Market Gains N162bn as Traders Cherry-Pick Stocks

By Dipo Olowookere

The last trading session of this week ended positive as investors continue to select some equities selling at very low prices at the market.

At the close of Thursday’s session, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) appreciated by 1.47 percent, shrinking the year-to-date loss to 20.33 percent.

The positive performance of the bourse was boosted by stocks in the banking, consumer goods, energy and insurance sectors as their respective performance indicators closed higher by 3.96 percent, 5.03 percent, 1.36 percent and 0.32 percent. Only the industrial goods counter closed bearish by 0.57 percent.

Business Post reports that the All-Share Index (ASI) increased yesterday by 310.77 points to close at 21,384.03 points compared with Wednesday’s 21,073.26 points. Similarly, the market capitalisation appreciated by N162 billion to settle at N11.144 trillion in contrast to N10.982 trillion it ended the previous day.

However, the volume and value of shares transacted by market participants during the session declined by 9.09 percent and 3.78 percent respectively, while the number of deals increased by 16.46 percent.

Yesterday, 314.9 million shares worth N5.0 billion were exchanged in 5,427 deals as against the 346.4 million stocks worth N5.2 billion that exchanged hands in 4,660 deals the previous session.

FBN Holdings was investors’ delight during the session, selling 56.0 million shares worth N261.6 million, while UBA transacted 37.8 million stocks valued at N228.4 million.

Lafarge Africa traded 35.0 million shares for N444.4 million, GTBank sold 31.6 million equities valued at N596.1 million, while Zenith Bank traded 28.3 million shares for N388.4 million.

A look at the performance of stocks at the market yesterday, Nestle Nigeria was the best performing, appreciating by N65.20 to close at N830.20 per unit.

Seplat gained N4.90 to sell at N495 per share, Stanbic IBTC appreciated by N1.50 to close at N26 per unit, Dangote Sugar gained 95 kobo to trade at N10.70 per share, while Lafarge Africa appreciated by 85 kobo to sell at N12.65 per unit.

On the flip side, BUA Cement was the worst performing stock on Thursday. Share price of the company’s stocks fell by 70 kobo to trade at N30.80 per unit.

SAHCO depreciated by 16 kobo to sell at N2 per share, NAHCO declined by 13 kobo to finish at N2.40 per unit, Red Star Express fell by 10 kobo to trade at N2.90 per share, while UAC Nigeria lost 5 kobo to settle at N7.05 per unit.