By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Gains recorded by large cap stocks listed on the local bourse buoyed the rebound recorded at the close of transactions in the mid-week trade.
The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), after a loss of 0.66 percent yesterday, closed today with a 2.44 percent rise, pushing the year-to-date gain to 13.30 percent.
The All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 1,030.98 points on Wednesday to settle at 43,330.54 points, while the market capitalisation grew by N370 billion to finish at N15.550 trillion.
Business Post reports that the positive performance of the market was mainly influenced by the Consumers Goods sector, which rose by 2.45 percent and the Banking industry, which appreciated by 0.78 percent.
At the close of business transactions today, Nestle emerged the highest price gainer, appreciating by N42 to close at N1442 per share.
Dangote Cement increased by N12.80k to finish at N269.80k per share, while Nigerian Breweries improved by N5.80k to end at N135.90k per share.
Seplat advanced by N2.60k to settle at N660.50k per share, while Unilever jumped by N2.40k to finish at N51.20k per share.
At the other end, Red Star Express suffered the biggest loss, going down by 30k to settle at N6 per share.
It was followed by Union Bank, which went down by 15k to close at N6.50k per share, and Transcorp, which fell by 6k to end at N1.97k per share.
Dangote Flour decreased by 5k to close at N16.45k per share, while Linkage Assurance decreased by 4k to finish at 86k per share.
The volume and value of equities exchanged on the floor of the NSE on Wednesday appreciated broadly.
A total of 571.9 million shares were transacted in 5,142 deals worth N10.8 billion against 438.7 million stocks sold for N8.8 billion in 5,433 deals.
On the activity chart, FCMB was the most traded stock today, exchanging a total of 192.9 million units worth N483.2 million.
Access Bank followed with 49.6 million equities sold for N652.9 million, and FBN Holdings, which traded 48 million shares at N551.7 million.
Transcorp transacted 34.6 million equities for N69.6 million, while Zenith Bank exchanged 25.6 million shares valued at N816.5 million.
