Guinness Nigeria, 10 Others Lift Stock Exchange by 0.41%

By Dipo Olowookere

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) soared by 0.41 per cent on Tuesday for the first time in four successive trading sessions.

The growth was influenced by the sterling performances of Guinness Nigeria and 10 other equities as the share price of the brewer rose by 10.00 per cent to N25.30.

Another stock, Regency Alliance Insurance, grew by 10.00 per cent yesterday to settle at 33 kobo, while Jaiz Bank, Vitafoam, and Livestock Feeds appreciated by 9.68 per cent, 5.44 per cent and 3.83 per cent respectively to trade at 68 kobo, N7.75 and N1.90 apiece.

The gains recorded by these equities were enough to overpower the losses reported by 20 stocks led by Coronation Insurance (Wapic), which depreciated by 9.09 per cent to close at 50 kobo.

Africa Prudential went down by 8.26 per cent to N5, Fidelity Bank lost 6.69 per cent to quote at N2.23, Ecobank fell by 5.83 per cent to N4.85, while GTBank declined by 4.84 per cent to N28.50.

Business Post reports that at the close of transactions, the industrial goods and consumer goods sectors closed higher by 1.70 per cent and 0.23 per cent respectively, while the banking and insurance counters lost 3.51 per cent and 1.07 per cent respectively, with the energy index closing flat.

For the All-Share Index (ASI), it went up by 158.97 points to 38,720.81 points from 38,561.84 points, while the market capitalisation rose by N83 billion to N20.259 trillion from N20.176 trillion.

Trading activities improved yesterday as investors transacted 220.9 million stocks worth N4.2 billion in 4,192 deals compared with the 184.5 million equities worth N2.5 billion exchanged in 3,527 deals on Monday.

This signified a 19.69 per cent increase in the trading volume, 67.05 per cent rise in the trading value and 18.85 per cent growth in the number of deals.

UBA was the most traded stock yesterday with the sale of 24.4 million units worth N171.6 million and was trailed by Access Bank, which transacted 19.1 million units valued at N148.1 million.

Mutual Benefits Assurance traded 17.9 million stocks for N6.9 million, Axa Mansard Insurance sold 17.5 million equities for N17.3 million, while GTBank exchanged 16.3 million shares for N470.6 million.