By Dipo Olowookere
The sum of N5 billion was gained by the stock market on Thursday, thanks to the banking and industrial goods equities, which had their respective indices rising by 1.08 percent and 0.25 percent.
The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) recorded a marginal growth of 0.04 percent at the close of transactions yesterday, with 24 stocks closing in the green territory and 11 in red.
This helped the All-Share Index (ASI) post a 10.66-point appreciation to 26,426.20 points from 26,415.54 points. Also, the market capitalisation increased by N5 billion to N13.770 trillion from N13.765 trillion.
Business Post reports that the level of activity was strong on Thursday compared with the previous session as the value of transactions increased by 178.89 percent to N7.8 billion from N2.8 billion.
Also, the volume of trades grew by 40.36 percent to 431.9 million from 307.7 million, while the number of deals executed advanced by 2.24 percent 4,518 deals from 4,419 deals.
Much of the trades were from the financial services sector, with GTBank getting the most attention of investors after selling 75.8 million units valued at N1.9 billion.
Zenith Bank traded 62.8 million shares worth N1.3 billion, Red Star Express exchanged 61.8 million equities for N184.2 million, UBA transacted 42.9 million stocks for N302.9 million, while United Capital traded 33.2 million equities valued at N104.6 million.
On the price movement chart, Stanbic IBTC emerged as the best performing stock, gaining N3.20 on a day it released an impressive 2019 earnings to close at N35.70 per share.
Ecobank gained 55 kobo to sell at N6.45 per unit, Zenith Bank improved by 40 kobo to quote at N20 per share, GTBank appreciated by 30 kobo to trade at N24.90 per unit, while UBA advanced by 25 kobo to sell at N7.15 per share.
The worst performing equity at the market yesterday was Nestle Nigeria. The company’s stocks depreciated by N63 to settle at N1017 per unit.
GlaxoSmithKline lost 40 kobo to sell at N3.80 per share, Union Bank declined by 25 kobo, the same amount it plans to pay shareholders as dividend for the first time in over a decade, to finish at N6.85 per unit.
Access Bank went down by 20 kobo to N8.80 per share, while Eterna depreciated by 16 kobo to settle at N2.02 per share.
The insurance and consumer goods sectors depreciated yesterday by 0.90 percent and 3.30 percent respectively, while the oil/gas counter closed flat.
Adedapo Adesanya