By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Equity market in Nigeria closed bullish for the week on Friday, extending the upward movement to four straight days.
The stock market recorded a rise of 0.92 percent after trading activities on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
However, the volume of shares transacted today by investors significantly declined, with a total of 151.4 million shares exchanged in 2,325 deals valued at N1.9 billion compared with 281 million units traded the previous day in 2,468 deals worth N2.4 billion.
At the close of the market, the All-Share Index improved by 235.08 basis points to end at 25,653.16 basis points, while the market capitalisation N81.4 billion to finish at N8.88 trillion and the YTD Return at -4.55 percent.
A total of 17 stocks recorded rise in their prices, while 14 equities depreciated in price at the close of activities on the NSE.
Dangote Cement emerged the biggest gainer today with a rise of N6 to close at N166 per share, while Beta Glass followed after adding N2 to end at N42.18k per share.
Lafarge advanced by N1.50k to close at N36 per share, GTBank progressed by 50k to finish at N26.30k per share and Dangote Sugar rose by 19k to end at N6.19k per share.
Conversely, Nigerian Breweries led to laggers’ log after dropping N3.84k to close at N130 per share, while Guinness depreciated by N3.49k to end at N66.50k per share.
Forte Oil went down by 98k to finish at N47.95k per share, Zenith Bank fell by 42k to close at N14.13k per share and Air Service slumped by 12k to end at N3.7k per share.
The Financial Services sector led the activity chart today with Zenith Bank transacting 41.4 million shares worth N601.7 million, Fidelity Bank exchanging 30 million shares valued at 25.1 million and GTBank trading 29.5 million shares at N773.7 million.
Also, UBA traded 12.6 million shares for 68.1 million and FCMB exchanged 7.7 million shares worth N9.6 million.
Adedapo Adesanya