By Dipo Olowookere
Renewed bargain hunting at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Friday lifted the market capitalisation by 0.57 percent.
The total value of stocks on the exchange increased by N67 billion yesterday to N11.778 trillion from N11.711 trillion.
Also, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased at the trading day by 128.59 basis points to 22,599.38 basis points from 22,470.79 basis points.
Furthermore, the market breadth closed positive with 16 price gainers over 14 prices losers, with MTN Nigeria the biggest price gainer, appreciating by N4 to close at N104 per unit, while Cadbury Nigeria gained 55 kobo to sell at N7.45 per share.
GTBank appreciated by 40 kobo to trade at N19.30 per share, Union Bank rose by 30 kobo to quote at N6.80 per unit, while UPDC REIT also improved by 30 kobo to finish at N3.40 per share.
On the flip side, CAP led the gainers’ table after shedding N2.30 to sell at N20.90 per share, while Dangote Cement lost N1.50 to trade at N130 per unit.
UAC Nigeria depreciated by 55 kobo to sell at N6.20 per share, C&I Leasing declined by 50 kobo to trade at N5.10 per share, while International Breweries lost 20 kobo to quote at N4.80 per unit.
Business Post reports that the uptrend printed by the equity market on Friday was boosted by stocks in the banking sector. The index was the only sector that closed green during the session, finishing 1.22 percent higher.
The energy counter ended flat, while the industrial goods index lost 0.56 percent, the insurance sector fell by 0.40 percent and the consumer goods index dropped 0.29 percent.
For another session, the activity level closed mixed as a result of the 33.47 percent decline in the value of transactions and the 17.04 percent and 5.04 percent rise in the number of deals and volume of trades respectively.
A total of 211.61 stocks worth N2.2 billion exchanged hands in 3,957 deals yesterday compared with 201.5 million shares valued at N3.4 billion traded in 3,381 deals the previous day.
GTBank was the most active equity at the market on Friday, trading 51.4 million equities worth N977.6 billion.
FBN Holdings transacted 25.7 million shares valued at N112.0 million, Access Bank traded 22.5 million stocks for N140.6 million, FTN Cocoa sold 17.0 million shares valued at N3.4 million, while UBA traded 12.0 million stocks worth N71.6 million.
