By Dipo Olowookere
The market capitalisation, which measures the total value of stocks on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), on Tuesday, increased to N17.059 trillion after the addition of N211 billion during the session.
The stock market has been on a bullish run lately and yesterday was not an exception as it grew by 1.25 per cent. This pushed the All-Share Index (ASI) higher by 404.05 points to 32,647.10 points from 32,243.05 points.
Though the level of activity waned, it was still at a level that showed that investors were mopping up equities considered to likely create more value in the short and long terms.
From the data obtained by Business Post, the trading volume reduced by 9.00 per cent to 578.8 million units from 636.0 million units, the trading value declined by 6.08 per cent to N7.7 billion from N8.2 billion, while the number of deals increased by 6.12 per cent to 7,651 from 7,210.
Zenith Bank ended the session as the most active stock after trading 67.9 million units valued at N1.6 billion, while FBN Holdings transacted 64.7 million units worth N464.0 million.
Access Bank exchanged 60.2 million shares for N538.7 million, Fidelity Bank traded 35.5 million equities valued at N99.9 million, while GTBank sold 34.8 million stocks worth N1.2 billion.
The market breadth closed positive with 39 price gainers and 11 price losers with the risers’ log led by MTN Nigeria, which gained N6.10 to settle at N156.20 per share.
Stanbic IBTC appreciated by N2 to close at N48 per unit, NASCON improved by N1.40 to end at N15.45 per share, Dangote Sugar grew by N1.30 to trade at N19.40 per share, while Ardova garnered 95 kobo to sell at N14.40 per unit.
Nestle Nigeria was the heaviest price decliner yesterday as shares of the company went down by N21.70 to settle at N1400 per unit.
Lafarge Africa lost 45 kobo to close at N21 per share, PZ Cussons went down by 25 kobo to N4.40 per unit, GTBank depreciated by 25 kobo to N35 per unit, while United Capital dropped 14 kobo to sell at N4.28 per share.
Business Post reports that all the five major sub-sectors of the market closed in the green territory on Tuesday, with insurance recording the biggest growth, 3.28 per cent.
The energy sector grew by 1.32 per cent, the banking counter appreciated by 0.93 per cent, the consumer goods space appreciated by 0.75 per cent, while the industrial goods space jumped by 0.22 per cent.
Adedapo Adesanya