By Dipo Olowookere
Transactions on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) finished on a positive note on Thursday for the first time this week.
Business Post reports that the equity market ended 0.31 percent higher today thanks to the gains recorded by Dangote Cement, which appreciated by 1.59 percent.
Sector performance as measured by the NSE sector indices showed that the NSEIND, NSEINS10, NSEBNK10 and NSEOILG5 recorded respective gains of 0.65 percent, 0.44 percent, and 0.27 percent and 0.08 percent.
However, the NSEFBT10 declined by 0.83 percent at the close of business today.
For the All-Share Index (ASI), it appreciated by 125.83 points to settle at 40,875.69 points, while the market capitalisation increased by N45.5 billion to end at N14.766 trillion.
Just like yesterday, the market breadth still finished negative today with 21 stocks appreciating in value against 24 depreciating equities.
Dangote Cement was the biggest price riser on Thursday after adding N4 to its share value to close at N255 per share.
It was trailed by Ecobank, which rose by 65k to finish at N17 per share, and Eterna, which grew by 28k to close at N6.29k per share.
NASCON appreciated by 20k to end at N21.20k per share, while Zenith Bank advanced by 15k to settle at N27.50k per share.
On the flip side, GlaxoSmithKline emerged the biggest price loser today, going down by N3.35k to finish at N31.50k per share.
It was followed by International Breweries, which lost N2.70k to close at N51.70k per share, and Julius Berger, which fell by N1.20k to end at N24.70k per share.
Nigerian Breweries depreciated by 70k to close at N128.30k per share, while Union Bank went down by 30k to end at N6.65k per share.
Business Post’s Dipo Olowookere reports that the volume and value of transactions recorded by investors at the stock market improved on Thursday by 23.47 percent and 13.35 percent respectively.
By the time market activities were brought to a close, a total of 495.6 million shares were sold in 4,614 deals worth N7.7 billion compared with the 401.4 million units traded yesterday in 5,370 deals valued at N6.8 billion.
The shares of UBA caught the most attention of investors on Thursday, trading a total of 103.5 million units worth N1.2 billion.
Fidelity Bank sold 90.2 million shares valued at N241 million, while GTBank transacted 63 million equities for N2.8 billion.
Furthermore, Access Bank exchanged 40.3 million shares for N474.6 million, while FBN Holdings sold 31.4 million equities worth N380.6 million.
Adedapo Adesanya