International Breweries Lifts Stock Market by 0.01%

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

The Nigerian stock market recorded a marginal gain on Thursday, closing 0.01 percent higher to push the year-to-date gain to 36.36 percent.

The market had begun bearish and it was looking like it would be the third consecutive losses at the stock market, but before the close of business, it picked up to finish bullish.

At the close of transactions, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 4.13 points to close at 36,645.65 points, while the market capitalisation improved by N1.4 billion to settle at N12.6 trillion, and the market breadth ended negative with 19 gainers and 20 losers.

However, market activity on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) still remained low as the volume and value of shares transacted by investors depreciated by 29.08 percent and 41.33 percent respectively.

A total of 140.9 million shares worth N1.7 billion were traded by investors today in 4,159 deals in contrast to 198.6 million units exchanged yesterday in 3,543 deals valued at N2.9 billion.

More companies listed on the NSE released their third quarter earnings on Thursday and investors seem to be reacting positively to the strong performances of these firms.

Business Post reports that International Breweries emerged the highest gainer, chalking up N2.21k to settle at N46.52k per share.

It was followed by Stanbic IBTC, which grew by N1.10k to close at N44.30k per share, and GlaxoSmithKline increased by 85k to finish at N24 per share.

Cadbury advanced by 30k to end at N10.50k per share, while Nestle improved by 27k to settle at N1200.27k per share.

On the flip side, Forte Oil depreciated by N2 to close at N46 per share, while Nigerian Breweries declined by 51k to end at N161.99k per share.

Total lost 41k to close at N245 per share, UBA fell by 21k to finish at N8.85k per share, while Axa Mansard went down by 12k to end at N2.36k per share.

At the close of trading activities on the floor of the NSE, banking stocks emerged investors’ toast with UBA transacting 30.7 million shares worth N275 million.

Sterling Bank traded 15.7 million shares valued at N15.7 million, while GTBank sold 15.3 million shares for N636.9 million.

Furthermore, Zenith Bank exchanged 14 million shares worth N368.5 million, and Skye Bank transacted 9.1 million shares worth N4.7 million.