Nestle, MTN, GTBank, 20 Others Uplift Stock Market 1.70%

By Dipo Olowookere

After being in the dungeon for the past seven trading sessions, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) closed in the green territory on Tuesday, rising by 1.70 percent.

This was helped by the gains posted by 23 stocks, which suppressed the loses printed by 12 equities. This pushed the All-Share Index (ASI) back to the 26,000 psychological mark.

The benchmark index increased yesterday 438.54 points to 26,255.11 points from 25,816.57 points, while the market capitalisation grew by N232 billion to N13.681 trillion from N13.449 trillion.

Business Post observed that despite the gains, the activity chart was mixed as the volume of trades improved by 19.26 percent, while the value of transactions declined by 15.77 percent, with the number of deals depreciating by 3.03 percent.

A total of 387.9 million shares worth N5.1 billion were traded in 4,901 deals in contrast to the previous day’s 325.3 million stocks worth N6.0 billion exchanged in 5,054 deals.

The low prices stocks were selling gave room for investors mop up some value equities. This led to the huge volume seen around GTBank, trading 83.1 million units valued at N2.0 billion.

Zenith Bank exchanged 54.6 million shares worth N1.1 billion, UBA traded 37.8 million shares for N261.4 million, FBN Holdings transacted 32.2 million stocks valued at N163.4 million, while Access Bank sold 31.1 million equities for N256.2 million.

Nestle Nigeria topped the gainers’ chart on Tuesday, gaining N63 to settle at N1080 per share, while MTN Nigeria appreciated by N5 to finish at N115 per share.

GTBank garnered N1.80 to close at N24.50 per unit, Zenith Bank grew by N1.55 to sell at N19.60 per unit, while Access Bank moved up by 75 kobo to N8.45 per share.

On the other side, Okomu Oil topped the losers’ table after going down by N6.60 to settle at N61.40 per share, while BUA Cement lost N2.75 to trade at N34.40 per unit.

Dangote Sugar dropped N1.20 to settle at N10.90 per share, Axa Mansard lost 15 kobo to quote at N1.53 per unit, while Neimeth fell by 4 kobo to sell at 42 kobo per share.