Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
There was a huge demand for some large-cap equities at the market on Friday and this triggered the 0.48 per cent growth recorded by the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
The buying interest in the stocks lifted the value of 13 companies and at the close of transactions, Airtel Africa was the highest price gainer after chalking up N51.50 to sell at N640 per unit.
Mobil Oil appreciated by N19.20 to finish at N228 per share, Ardova gained 45 kobo to close at N14.45 per unit, Zenith Bank grew by 40 kobo to N23.95 per share, while C & I Leasing appreciated by 32 kobo to N4.78 per unit.
Business Post reports that a total of 19 equities depreciated in value yesterday and leading the table was Dangote Cement, which lost N6 to close at N199 per unit.
Dangote Sugar went down by 50 kobo to N19 per share, GTBank declined by 35 kobo to close at N33.25 per share, UAC Nigeria depreciated by 15 kobo to N7.15 per unit, while Guinness Nigeria fell by 10 kobo to N17.90 per share.
A total of 292.9 million shares worth N4.3 billion exchanged hands in 4,392 deals on Friday compared with the 289.4 million equities worth N7.4 billion traded on Thursday in 4,878 deals.
A breakdown showed that FBN Holdings accounted for 40.5 million units valued at N289.4 million, UBA accounted for 35.3 million shares worth N295.9 million, Access Bank traded 32.6 million units valued at N276.8 million, Mutual Benefits transacted 28.4 million stocks for N6.4 million, while Ecobank traded 27.1 million equities valued at N148.0 million.
On a sectoral level, the energy sector was the best-performing, rising by 1.88 per cent, while the insurance sector followed with a 1.64 per cent growth, with the banking sector closing flat.
The industrial goods counter lost 1.53 per cent yesterday, while the consumer goods space depreciated by 0.29 per cent at the close of business.
However, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 169.05 points to settle at 35,137.99 points as against the previous day’s 34,968.94 points. In the same vein, the market capitalisation went up by N88 billion to close at N18.365 trillion versus Thursday’s N18.277 trillion.
