By Dipo Olowookere
Africa’s richest man, Mr Aliko Dangote, received a good birthday present on his 62nd birthday on Wednesday, April 10, 2019, when one of his companies, Dangote Cement, led the gainers’ chart on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) today.
Dangote Cement stock gained N1 at the close of the midweek trading session to settle at N186 per unit, lifting the local bourse from the dungeon.
It was the first time the equities market was closing bullish this week after investors had longed for that positive development that will trigger bargain hunting.
Business Post reports that the stock market appreciated by 0.15 percent today following the gains posted by Dangote Cement and 23 other counters.
The All-Share Index (ASI) closed 43.97 points higher to end at 29,202.54 points, while the market capitalisation increased by N16 billion to finish at N10.965 trillion.
Apart from Dangote Cement, Custodian Investment improved by 60 kobo to close at N6.70k per share, while Zenith Bank gained 45 kobo to end at N20.60k per share.
In addition, Fidson rose by 20 kobo to settle at N4.25k per share, while Access Bank appreciated by 15 kobo to quote at N5.85k per unit.
Conversely, CCNN and Unilever Nigeria both lost N1 each to settle for the day at N16 and N34 per share respectively.
GlaxoSmithKline and PZ Cussons lost 95 kobo each to close at N8.55k and N8.85k per share respectively, while Dangote Flour dropped 50 kobo to end at N8 per share.
It was observed that while the volume of shares appreciated today by 28.77 percent, the value decreased by 5.87 percent.
At the close of business, a total of 481.6 million equities worth N2.9 billion exchanged hands in 3,559 deals in contrast to the 374 million shares worth N3.1 billion traded the previous day in 3,634 deals.
Transcorp recorded the highest volume of transaction with a turnover of 174.6 million units traded for N200.6 million.
Union Bank exchanged 70.6 million equities worth N416.9 million, while Sterling Bank transacted 48.8 million shares for N126.9 million.
A total of 37.6 million units of Access Bank stocks were sold for N220.1 million, while GTBank sold 22.9 million equities valued at N758.5 million.
