Investors Gain N206b as Market Capitalisation Crosses N10tr Mark

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

The bullish movement on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) was extended for another day at the close of trading activities on Friday.

Business Post reports that the market capitalisation, for the first time in many months, crossed the N10 trillion mark, settling at N10.048 trillion at the end of transactions on the floor of the NSE from N9.841 trillion it closed yesterday, representing an increase by N206 billion.

Throughout this week, the stock market slumped only once, which was the first trading day of the week, Monday.

The stock market, today, consolidated on the performances of Dangote Cement, which paid out N144.8 billion dividends to its shareholders after it was approved this week at its AGM, as well as 31 other stocks that appreciated in price.

This left the market breadth to close positive after only 20 stocks depreciated in price.

Business Post further reports that the year-to-date return inched up to 8.15 percent, while the All-Share Index (ASI) improved by 596.91 points to settle at 29,064.52 points.

Dangote Cement rose by N3.80k to lead the gainers’ chart, closing at N166.80k per share. It was followed by Okomu Oil, which advanced by N2.9k to finish at N52.99k per share.

GTBank progressed by N1.68k to wrap the day at N35.28k per share, Presco moved up by N1.1k to end at N49.1k per share, while Flour Mill grew by 96k to finish at N20.23k per share.

Mobil suffered the biggest loss today after crashing by N14.98k to close at N284.65k per share, while Cadbury depreciated by 48k to end at N9.42k per share.

Unilever declined by 25k to finish at N35.75k per share, NASCON sank by 20k to end at N8.50k per share and NAHCO weakened by 15k to settle at N2.89k per share.

Our correspondent reports that at the close of trading activities on the NSE, a total of 726 million shares were exchanged by investors in 4,435 deals valued at N5.7 billion.

The stock market is expected to resume for trading transactions next week on Tuesday, May 30, 2017, because of the public holiday declared by the Federal Government on Monday to mark Democracy Day in Nigeria.