Banking Stocks Stimulate Market Growth by 2.17%

**As Investors Gain N335b

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

The performance of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) further received a huge boost on Tuesday courtesy the stocks in the banking sector.

At the trading activities today, the sector traded a total of 340.14 million shares valued at N4.58 billion executed in 2,833 deals.

Business Post reports that the All-Share Index (ASI), which closed at 43,119.00 points on Monday, increased by 935.72 points today to settle at 44,054.72, crossing the 44,000 mark for the first time since late 2008.

Furthermore, the market capitalisation grew by N335.2 billion to finish at N15.783 trillion, with the year-to-date return closing at 15.20 percent.

At the close of business activities on the floor of the exchange today, the market breadth finished positive with 46 price gainers and 16 price losers.

The price gainers’ table was topped by Mobil, which went up by N9.50k to settle at N199.50k per share.

Guinness Nigeria gained N5.1k to finish at N114 per share, while Dangote Cement grew by N5 to end at N260 per share.

Julius Berger advanced by N2.75k to close at N30.97k per share, while Zenith Bank increased by N1.51k to end the day at N33.51k per share.

However, it was not a good day for Nestle, which fell by N10 today to wrap the day at N1,480 per share.

Lafarge went down by N1.82k to close at N52.24k per share, and PZ Cussons depreciated by 67k to finish at N23.32k per share.

UAC of Nigeria declined by 50k to close at N18 per share, while CAP suffered a 49k loss to settle at N37.1k per share.

Though the market closed in green on Tuesday, the volume of equities transacted by investors depreciated by 13.03 percent while the value appreciated by 21.19 percent.

A total of 635.4 million shares exchanged hands today in 7,331 deals worth N7.64 billion, compared with 730.6 million units traded yesterday by investors in 7,964 deals valued at N6.30 billion.

Access Bank emerged the most traded stock on Tuesday in terms of volume, transacting 158.6 million shares worth N1.9 billion.

It was followed by Transcorp, which sold 89.7 million shares valued at N207.6 million, and FBN Holdings, which traded 67.6 million shares for N868 million.

UBA exchanged 45.5 million shares worth N565.4 million today, while Fidelity Bank traded 36 million shares valued at N129.2 million.