Industrial Stocks Help NSE Index Rise 2.92%

By Dipo Olowookere

Stocks in the industrial goods sector led by Dangote Cement helped the local bourse sustain its bullish run on Thursday, appreciating by 2.92 percent at the close of business.

The cement giant mainly contributed to the 7.98 percent rise posted by the sector, which was the only gainer yesterday. Selloffs in the banking sector caused its 0.39 percent downfall during the session just as the profit taking affected the consumer goods sector, which went down by 0.21 percent and the oil/gas index, which declined by 0.07 percent, with the insurance sector closing flat.

Dangote Cement topped the gainers’ chart on Thursday after adding N11 to its share value to close at N175 per unit, while MTN Nigeria followed closely with a growth of N6.50 to finish at N116 per share.

Presco continued it positive momentum with a price appreciation of N5.05 to end at N57.05 per unit, GTBank gained N1.30 to settle at N32.55 per share, while Lafarge Africa rose by 55 kobo to close at N15.40 per unit.

On the losers’ side, Union Dicon claimed the number one position with a price depreciation of N1.20 to close at N10.95 per share, while Access Bank trailed with a decline of 65 kobo to finish at N10.95 per share.

Unilever Nigeria depreciated by 60 kobo to close at N19 per unit, UBA lost 50 kobo to settle at N8.35 per share, while Flour Mills went down by 40 kobo to finish at N23 per share.

Activity level was dull on Thursday as the volume of shares traded by investors reduced by 6.56 percent to 693.2 million from 741.8 million, while the value dropped 19.22 percent to N7.4 billion from N9.2 billion, with the number of deals executed decreasing by 12.96 percent to 6,634 from 7,622.

Wapic Insurance was the most traded stock at the market yesterday, selling 190.1 million units worth N68.5 million, while Transcorp trailed with 82.8 million shares worth N89.8 million.

Zenith Bank exchanged 80.8 million units valued at N1.8 billion, FBH Holdings transacted 41.6 million equities worth N315.6 million, while UBA sold 39.7 million shares worth N337.0 million.

Business Post reports that at the close of transactions on Thursday, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 833.09 points to 29,395.57 points from 28,562.48 points, while the market capitalisation significantly went up by N1.4 trillion as a result of the listing of BUA Cement shares on the exchange to close at N15.164 trillion from N13.787 million.