By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Trading on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) kicked off for the new week on a very bright note, closing 1.41 percent higher today.
Blue-chop stocks like Total, Nestle and others performed well at the stock market on Monday to raise its value by N176 billion at the close of business.
Business Post reports that while the All Share Index (ASI) closed at 36,831.93 against the previous close of 36,320.93, the market capitalization ended at N12.678 trillion against N12.502 trillion it ended last Friday.
However, the positive mood did not extend to the volume and value of shares traded today by investors as the volume traded fell by 28.58 percent from 367.068 million to 262.167 million, while the total value of stock transacted declined by 19.97 percent from N3.743 billion to N2.996 billion in 4,283 deals.
But the Financial Services industry led the activity chart with 217.606 million shares worth N1.624 billion traded by investors, while the Consumer Goods sector followed with a total of 16.092 million shares exchanged at N997 million.
Diamond Bank emerged the most traded equity on the floor of the NSE on Monday, trading 76.3 million shares worth N80.3 million.
It was trailed by Access Bank, which transacted 28 million units at N275.7 million, and Zenith Bank, which exchanged 23.7 million shares valued at N595 million.
Furthermore, FBN Holdings traded 15.7 million shares at N95.3 million, while Transcorp moved 13.4 million shares worth N18 million.
On the price movement chart, Total Plc gained N12 to lead the gainers’ log, closing at N253 per share.
Nestle, which came second, advanced by N7.5k to settle at N1230.6 per share.
Dangote Cement rose by N6.39k to finish at N224 per share, International Breweries saw its share price growing by N1.90k to end at N39.90k per share, while GTBank chalked up N1.32k to expand to N42.2k per share.
On the flip side, Lafarge deflated by 42k to close at N56.89k per share, while Cadbury fell 33k to end at N10 per share.
PZ Cussons lost 31k to finish at N23.24k per share, Dangote Sugar declined by 18k to settle at N13.80k per share, and Presco decreased by 17k to wrap the day at N67.83k per share.
