Dangote Cement Lifts Stock Market by 0.10%

By Dipo Olowookere

Trading activities at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) closed positive on Thursday by 0.10 percent as a result of gains printed by Dangote Cement, which boosted the industrial goods sector by 2.37 percent during the session.

The cement stock closed as the day’s highest price gainer after adding N11.60 percent to its share price to settle at N128.40 per unit and was followed by Flour Mills, which gained N1.05 to close at N20.20 per unit.

GlaxoSmithKline rose by 40 kobo to N4.80 per share, Livestock Feeds grew by 6 kobo to 70 kobo per unit, while Union Diagnostic appreciated by one kobo to 26 kobo per share.

Unlike the previous day, when it topped the gainers’ chart, MTN Nigeria dominated the losers’ table on Thursday, losing N5.60 to sell at N92.80 per share.

Nigerian Breweries lost N2.30 to trade at N22.50 per share, Zenith Bank fell by 40 kobo to quote at N11 per unit, Stanbic IBTC depreciated by 40 kobo to trade at N23.90 per unit, while International Breweries depleted by 35 kobo to N5 per share.

At the session, the All-Share Index (ASI) decreased by 20.66 points to 21,121.20 points from 21,100.54 points, while the market capitalisation reduced by N10 billion to N11.007 trillion from N10.997 trillion.

The trading volume improved yesterday by 65.38 percent to 255.6 million units from 154.6 million, while the value increased by 62.07 percent to N2.9 billion from N1.8 billion, with the number of deals rising by 29.37 percent to 4,418 deals from 3,415 deals.

Zenith Bank was the most active stock at the session, selling 100.8 million units worth N1.1 billion, while GTBank traded 34.2 million units valued at N596.0 million.

FBN Holdings exchanged 29.0 million shares for N109.2 million, Transcorp sold 13.4 million equities worth N8.1 million, while UBA transacted 13.4 million stocks valued at N65.6 million.