By Dipo Olowookere
The first trading day in the month of May 2019 kicked off on a positive note with equities closing in the green territory by 0.04 percent. This was largely due to the mopping up of some stocks with the potentials of yielding investors good returns in the short term.
At the close of business on Thursday, the All-Share Index (ASI) of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) increased by 11.99 points to settle at 29,171.73 points, while the market capitalisation rose by N4 billion to finish at N10.963 trillion.
At the market yesterday, Mobil Oil Nigeria topped the gainers’ chart after adding N9 to its share price to close at N186 per unit.
It was closely followed by Guinness Nigeria, which gained N1.40k to end at N50 per share, and Nigerian Breweries, which improved its share value at 75 kobo to settle at N65.75k per share.
CCNN appreciated yesterday by 60 kobo to close at N14.60k per unit, while Dangote Flour continued its bull run after a scare in the earlier part of the day by 15 kobo to end at N18.95k per share.
On the other side, Presco led the losers’ table, recording a N4.75k loss to close for the day at N58 per share.
Total Nigeria depreciated by N2.10k to finish at N164 per share, while Conoil went down by 70 kobo to finish at N20.10k per share.
Forte Oil lost 35 kobo on Thursday to finish at N34.95k per share, while Lafarge Africa depreciated by 25 kobo to end at N11.20k per unit.
Business Post observed that despite the positive performance put up by the market on Thursday, the level of activity dropped.
For instance, the volume of share transacted yesterday decreased by 48.59 percent from 543.9 million to 279.6 million, while the value of the transactions went down by 65.56 percent from N8.2 billion to N2.8 billion.
Transcorp dominated the activity chart yesterday, closing with a turnover of 34.9 million units of its stock sold for N42.5 million.
Dangote Flour traded 23.6 million units worth N450.1 million, while Chams recorded the sale of 20.7 million units of its shares worth N10.7 million.
Access Bank traded 19.7 million equities worth N135.6 million, while Japaul Oil transacted 17.1 million shares for N6.1 million.
