By Dipo Olowookere
The strong performance put up by Dangote Cement, MTN Nigeria and other stocks on Thursday helped return the total value listed equities to the N15 trillion region barely 24 hours after it went below the mark.
The price appreciation recorded by 23 stocks from bargain hunting resulted in the one percent growth printed by the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) at the close of transactions yesterday.
This increased the All-Share Index (ASI) by 289.63 points to 29,352.13 points and the market capitalisation by N149.4 billion to N15.142 trillion from N14.992 trillion.
Dangote Cement led the gainers’ chart with a price growth of N5 to close at N175 per unit, while MTN Nigeria trailed with a price appreciation of N2.50 to settle at N123 per share.
Forte Oil increased its share value by N1.60 to end at N20.60 per unit, Lafarge Africa rose by 95 kobo to trade at N15.95 per unit, while Unilever Nigeria gained 80 kobo to sell at N18.80 per unit.
At the other end, BUA Cement took control of the losers’ table after depreciating by N2 to close at N36 per unit, while Stanbic IBTC dropped N1 to end at N41.50 per share.
Beta Glass declined by N1 to finish at N63.90 per share, UAC Nigeria went down by 70 kobo to close at N10 per unit, while BOC Gas weakened by 55 kobo to N4.95 per unit.
Business Post reports that the trading volume increased during Thursday’s session to 387.2 million from 360.1 million, while the value of transactions rose N5.0 billion from N2.8 billion.
This was gingered by trading in banking stocks, which left Access Bank emerging as the most active with 74.6 million units of its shares sold for N770.9 million.
Zenith Bank transacted 71.8 million units worth N1.6 billion, Lafarge Africa traded 40.7 million stocks for N629.9 million, UBA exchanged 37.3 million equities valued at N328.0 million, Morison Industries sold 35.0 million units worth N15.8 million.
Adedapo Adesanya 
Modupe Gbadeyanka