By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Trading of shares on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) ended again on a positive note on Wednesday.
This was as a result of the continuous gains recorded by equities traded at the stock market, indicating renewed confidence investors have in the local bourse.
At the close of business in the midweek trading, the equity market appreciated by 1.51 percent, leaving the year-to-date return to push further to 45.40 percent.
The number of price gainers increased again today with the market closing with 40 appreciating stocks and 13 depreciating equities.
Okomu Oil topped the gainers’ log, appreciating by N2.78k to close at N70 per share, and was followed by Nigerian Breweries, which rose by N2.40k to finish at N140.40k per share.
Flour Mills of Nigeria increased by N1.60k to settle at N34.70k per share, Unilever gained N1.45k to end at N44.40k per share, while NASCON grew by N1.38k to close at N17.12k per share.
At the other end, GlaxoSmithKline emerged the day’s biggest loser, shedding N1.14k to close at N21.66k per share.
It was followed by Julius Berger, which went down by N1 to finish at N27 per share, and PZ Cussons, which depreciated by 89k to close at N22.1k per share.
Red Star Express lost 13k to settle at N4.91k per share, while United Capital also declined by 13k to end at N3.47k per share.
Business Post reports that the Nigerian stock market hit another record high today with the All-Share Index (ASI) rising above the 39,000 mark.
The index increased on Wednesday by 580.87 absolute points to settle at 39,075.30 absolute points, while the market capitalisation garnered N202.3 billion to close at N113.6 trillion.
Though the volume stocks transacted by investors increased on Wednesday, the value slightly depreciated.
At the close of trading activities today, a total of 703.7 million shares worth N7.3 billion were traded in 6,125 deals, against 522.4 million shares sold yesterday in 5,150 deals valued at N7.5 billion.
Custodian and Allied further closed the day at the most transacted stock in terms of volume, selling a total of 131.8 million units worth N494.4 million. This transaction was carried out in 25 trades with the price closing the same way it traded yesterday, N3.75k per share.
UBA exchanged a total of 92.5 million shares today worth N986.7 million, while FBN Holdings traded 86.5 million shares valued at N732 million.
Zenith Bank sold 71.2 million shares for N1.8 billion, while Transcorp transacted 46.5 million shares valued at N69.6 million.
Going by past trends, the investors might begin to take profit from tomorrow, plunging the market to a fall.
Adedapo Adesanya