By Dipo Olowookere
The first gain of the year 2019 has been recorded by the Nigerian stock market after six consecutive losses.
The equities market closed 0.62 percent higher on Thursday, thanks to the huge gains posted by bank and industrial goods indices.
Apart from the Consumer Goods industry, which suffered a 1.75 percent decline, and the insurance sector, which fell by 2.05 percent, every other sector appreciated at the close of business.
The banking index grew by 2.74 percent, the industrial goods index rose by 2.24 percent, while the oil/gas index by 0.13 percent.
At the end of the today’s trading session, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) recorded 21 price risers and 15 price fallers.
Julius Berger was the day’s biggest price gainer, adding N2.55k to its share value to settle at N28.40k per unit.
It was followed by GTBank, which rose by N1.90k to end at N33.20k per share, and Dangote Cement, which grew by N1.50k to close at N171.50k per share.
Forte Oil appreciated by N1.45k to finish at N28 per share, while CCNN went up by 90 kobo to close at N19.45k per share.
At the other side, Nestle Nigeria closed as the day’s heaviest price loser, going down by N48.90k to finish at N1401.10k per share.
Guinness Nigeria depreciated by N7 to end at N63 per share, while Okomu Oil declined by N1.75k to close at N82 per share.
Access Bank lost 20 kobo to close at N5.30k per share, while NEM Insurance fell by 19 kobo to settle at N1.72k per share.
The level of activity at the market today was better than yesterday as the volume of shares traded by investors increased by 64.03 percent from 234.9 million units to 385.3 million units, while the value went up by 36.61 percent from N2.3 billion to N3.1 billion.
For the main market indices, the All-Share Index increased by 180.93 points to close at 29,517.73 points, while the market capitalisation went up by N67.5 billion to settle at N11.007 trillion.