Nestle, Seplat Stop Further Stock Market Flop

By Dipo Olowookere

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) reversed an early loss today to close the day’s transactions on a positive note.

This made what could have been the third straight loss for the Nigerian stock market to be averted after the market closed 0.40 percent higher.

Gains recorded by Nestle and Seplat ensured that the stock market closed in the green territory on Wednesday.

Specifically, the All-Share Index (ASI) gained 150.10 points to settle 37,933.86 points, while the market capitalisation grew by N53.4 billion to close at N13.499 trillion.

In addition, the YtD return increased to 41.15 percent, while the market breadth closed negative with 25 price losers and 23 price gainers.

Business Post reports that Nestle, which topped the price gainers’ chart today, added N30.95k to its share value to finish at N1495 per share.

It was followed by Seplat, which grew by N27 to close at N567.5k per share, and Unilever, which appreciated by N1.90k to end at N43.89k per share.

GTBank increased by 60k to close at N40.50k per share, while Stanbic IBTC garnered 58k to finish at N41.50k per share.

At the other end, Flour Mills of Nigeria depreciated by N1.49k to close at N28.36k per share, while GlaxoSmithKline fell by N1.13k to finish at N21.61k per share.

PZ Cussons went down by N1.12k to close at N21.38k per share, Cadbury Nigeria went down by 40k to settle at N13 per share, and Access Bank declined by 38k to end at N10.2k per share.

It was observed that the volume of shares transacted today declined by 68 percent from 649.6 million to 207.9 million, while the total value of equities traded went down by 37.58 percent from N5.4 billion to N3.4 billion.

A further analysis showed that the Financial Services sector led the activity chart with 169.7 million shares traded at N1.7 billion, while the Consumer Goods industry followed with 17.6 million shares traded for 947 million.