NSE Indices Sustain Rising Profile, Grow by 0.77%

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

Price gains recorded by most blue chip companies, especially the oil and gas stocks, on Thursday resulted in the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) maintaining its uptrend, which started yesterday.

At the close of transactions today, bulls sustained dominance on the trading floor of the stock market, advancing by 0.77 percent.

Business Post reports that the All-Share Index (ASI) accelerated by 251.26 points to settle at 32,937.98 points, while the market capitalisation improved by N87 billion to finish at N11.4 trillion.

Unlike yesterday when the market breadth closed flat, it ended positive today with 45 gainers compared with 13 losers, while the year-to-date (YTD) return rose to 22.56 percent.

A total of 529 million shares exchanged hands at the stock market on Thursday, which were traded in 5,603 deals and valued at N5.8 billion.

The news of the resumption of exports at the Forcados terminal by Seplat had a positive effect on its stocks at the market, resulting in its good performance today.

Seplat recorded a massive gain of N39.13k to close at N425 per share and was trailed by Forte Oil, which went up by N5.41k to settle at N58.33k per share.

Total Plc improved by N4.49k to finish at N279.50k per share, Okomu Oil increased by N2.88k to end at N60.63k per share and Presco appreciated by N2.83k to close at N59.53k per share.

The losers’ chart was today led by Dangote Cement, which declined by N3.97k to finish at N205 per share and Julius Berger, which depreciated by N1.86k to close at N38 per share.

GTBank lost 15k to end at N33.55k per share, Lafarge Africa weakened by 11k to settle at N52.64k per share, while Jaiz Bank deflated by 4k to wrap the day at 81k per share.