By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) returned to upward trend on Thursday courtesy the performances of Nestle Plc and 21 other stocks at the market, Business Post reports.
The stock market, which depreciated yesterday by 0.77 percent, closed today by moving forward by 0.52 percent, reducing the year-to-date return to -4.17 percent from at -4.66 percent.
The All-Share Index (ASI) gained 132.06 points at the end of trading activities to finish at 25,753.00 points, while the market capitalisation increased by N45.7 billion to close at N8.910 trillion.
Investors transacted a total of 371.8 million shares valued at N2.8 billion executed in 3,627 deals, compared with 255.7 million units traded the previous day in 2,845 deals worth N1.7 billion.
Nestle topped the gainers’ chart with a gain of N12 to close at N725.50k per share, while Stanbic IBTC rose by N1.58k to finish at N25 per share.
Dangote Cement advanced by N1 to end at N160 per share, GTBank progressed by 58k to finish at N26.63k per share and UACN grew by 47k to close at N14.47k per share.
Conversely, Unilever went down by N3.45k to close at N32.5k per share and Lafarge declined by N3 to end at N48.50k per share.
Okomu Oil weakened by 95k to finish at N47.5k per share, Dangote Flour sank by 19k to end at N4.9k per share, while African Prudential Registrars depreciated by 13k to close at N2.57k per share.
Shares of Access Bank, Fidelity Bank and GTBank attracted investors at the market on Thursday with the three emerging the most traded by volume.
While Access Bank sold a total of 104.6 million shares worth N658.2 million, Fidelity Bank traded 33.7 million units valued at N27.7 million and GTBank exchanged 30.7 million shares at N829 million.
Adedapo Adesanya