Mobil Lifts Equity Market as NB Plc Trades N9.5b Worth of Shares

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

Gains recorded by Mobil, 7up and 15 other equities were enough to lift the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and return it to the green zone.

At the close to trade on Thursday, the stock market marginally rose by 0.05 percent, leaving the year-to-date return to close at 36.32 percent.

But despite the gains, the market breadth closed negative today with 17 price gainers and 25 price losers.

Mobil appreciated by N5 to close at N170 per share, while 7up increased by N4 to settle at N90 per share.

International Breweries garnered N1.80k to finish at N51.80k per share, PZ Cussons went up by N1.2k to end at N21.42k per share, and GTBank expanded by 60k to close at N43.10k per share.

On the flip side, Seplat led the price losers’ chart, depreciating by N5 to settle at N490 per share, and was trailed by Guinness Nigeria, which went down by N1 to close N100 per share.

NASCON fell by 33k to end at N14.30k per share, Dangote Sugar declined by 30k to settle at N14.25k per share, while FBN Holdings sank by 28k to finish at N6.62k per share.

Business Post reports that at the close of business on Thursday, the All-Share Index (ASI) improved by 17.44 points to close at 36,634.89 points, while the market capitalisation increased by N77.1 billion to finish at N12.8 trillion.

Like yesterday, the Financial Services sector led the activity chart with 96.025 million shares exchanged for N1.067 billion, and was followed by the Consumer Goods industry, which sold 95.378 million shares traded worth N10.406 billion.

However, Nigerian Breweries led the activity chart with 68.3 million shares exchanged for N9.5 billion.

It was trailed by Zenith Bank, which traded 18.6 million shares worth N448.7 million, and Access Bank, which sold 14.4 million shares for N142.2 million.

FBN Holdings exchanged 13.8 million shares valued at N92.8 million, while C&I Leading transacted 12.9 million shares worth N16 million.

In all, a total of 217.8 million shares were traded today for N11.7 billion in 3,088 deals, against 184.3 million shares worth N3.3 billion transacted yesterday in 3,590 deals.