By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) closed for the week on Friday on a positive note, posting 0.03 percent growth to take the year-to-date return to 31.87 percent.
Today’s gain was the third in a row.
Business Post reports that the market breadth closed flat on Friday with 18 losers and 18 gainers, though the volume and value of shares transacted depreciated.
Investors staked N3.8 billion on 235.8 million shares today compared with N4 billion staked on 346.2 million shares yesterday.
It was observed that banking stocks attracted investors’ interest today with UBA emerging the most traded stock.
A total of 39.6 million shares of UBA were sold on the floor of the NSE on Friday valued at N336.3 million.
GTBank traded 34.9 million shares worth N1.4 billion, while Access Bank exchanged 31.6 million shares valued at N305 million.
Zenith Bank transacted 22.5 million shares at N530.4 million, and Sterling Bank exchanged 19.4 million shares worth N20 million.
On the price movement chart, Mobil emerged the highest gainer, adding N2.1k to its share price to close at N170 per share.
It was followed by Lafarge, which rose by 48k to finish at N50.68k per share, and UBA, which grew by 18k to end at N8.64k per share.
FBN Holdings expanded by 17k to settle at N5.64k per share, while Dangote Sugar advanced by 15k to close at N13.70k per share.
At the other end, Nestle suffered the heaviest loss, declining by N4.89k to settle at N1220.11k per share.
It was trailed by Guinness Nigeria, which fell by N3.63k to close at N95.1k per share, and Nigerian Breweries, which crashed by N1 to end at N165 per share.
Stanbic IBTC lost 50k today to finish at N39.50k per share, while CAP also depreciated by 50k to close at N32.50k per share.
A look at the major market indicators showed the market capitalisation increasing by N3.7 billion to settle at N12.2 trillion, while the All-Share Index (ASI) grew by 10.67 points to finish at 35,439.98 points.
Dipo Olowookere 
Adedapo Adesanya