By Dipo Olowookere
The bearish trend on the floor of Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) ended today after the market breadth closed positive with 24 appreciating equities and 11 declining counters.
The market finished 0.70 percent higher on Tuesday as a result of bargain hunting in reaction to the news around Access Bank and Diamond Bank merger plan.
At the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) went up by 213.27 points to finish at 30,822.33 points, while the market capitalisation increased by N75 billion to settle at N11.256 trillion.
Business Post reports that Mobil Oil Nigeria led the gainers chart today with a growth N13.40k to finish at N170 per share.
It was followed by Dangote Cement, which rose by N4 to end at N189 per share, and Forte Oil, which appreciated by N2.15k to settle at N23.85k per share.
CCNN improved by N1.70k to close at N18.85k per share, while GTBank increased its share value by 95 kobo to end at N35 per unit.
On the other hand, Nigerian Breweries, which topped the losers’ chart, lost N2.70k of its share price to close at N76.70k per share.
Unilever Nigeria declined by N1.05k to end at N37 per share, while Guinness Nigeria went down by N1 to settle at N72 per share.
Access Bank fell by 45 kobo today to close at N7.70k per share, while UBA depreciated by 10 kobo to settle at N7.55k per share.
On the activity chart, Zenith Bank dominated with a total turnover of 102.4 million shares traded by investors today for N2.4 billion.
It was followed by Axa Mansard with a turnover of 40.1 million equities transacted for N80.1 million, and Lafarge, which exchanged 25.9 million units worth N309.5 million.
Access Bank traded 22.2 million equities valued at N179.1 million, while GTBank exchanged 16 million shares worth N553.8 million.
In all, the volume of shares traded today increased to 316.2 million from 215 million recorded yesterday, while the value appreciated to N5.1 billion from N1.7 billion posted in the previous session.
