By Dipo Olowookere
Sanity was restored to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Friday after some blue-chip stocks led by Nigerian Breweries rescued the market from further fall.
Business Post reports that for the first time in eight consecutive sessions and the second time in the month of September 2018, the market closed in the green territory.
At the close of transactions on Friday, the equities market appreciated by 0.95 percent, shrinking the Year-to-Date (YtD) returns to -15.47 percent.
This was after the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 305.36 points to close at 32,327.59 points and the market capitalisation advanced by N111 billion to settle at N11.802 trillion.
The market breadth, unlike the past sessions, finished positive with 21 price gainers against 16 price losers.
Topping the price gainers’ chart was Nigerian Breweries, which appreciated by N8.40k to settle at N92.50k per share.
It was followed by GTBank, which rose by N1.80k to end at N34.75k per share, and Stanbic IBTC, which moved up by N1.25k to close at N42.25k per share.
Zenith Bank added 45 kobo to its share value to end at N20.05k per share, while UBA went up by 25 kobo to close at N7.40k per share.
On the flip side, Nestle Nigeria led the price losers’ list after going down by N28 to settle at N1370 pr share.
Unilever Nigeria depressed by N3.80k to close at N43 per share, while CCNN deflated by N2.50k to finish at N22.60k per share.
Flour Mills went down by 80 kobo to end at N19 per share, while NASCON decreased by 75 kobo to close at N19.25k per share.
During last Friday’s trading session, the volume of shares transacted by investors appreciated by 45.31 percent from 173.6 million to 252.9 million, while the total value of the trades moved up by 27.50 percent from N3.7 billion to N4.7 billion.
A further breakdown showed that the Financial Services sector led the activity chart with 216.7 million shares exchanged for N3.7 billion, while the Conglomerates sector followed with 18.4 million shares transacted for N29 million.
Shares of GTBank, Zenith Bank, Transcorp, Fidelity Bank and Custodian Investment were the most traded on the floor of the NSE during the day’s trading.
GTBank sold 68.7 million equities worth N2.3 billion, Zenith Bank transacted 51.8 million units worth N1 billion, Transcorp exchanged 17.3 million shares valued at N20.4 million, Fidelity Bank swapped 15 million equities for N23.7 million, while Custodian Investment traded 9.9 million shares for N56.1 million.
