Nigerian Equities Rebound by 0.68% as Investors Trade 1.1b Shares

By Dipo Olowookere

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) rebounded on Tuesday after it went down at the close of business yesterday due to profit-taking.

But gains recorded by large-cap stocks lifted the market and left it in the green territory, closing 0.68 percent higher.

Nigerian Breweries led the 25 gaining stocks after increasing by N6.43k to settle for the day at N137.60k per share.

It was followed by Stanbic IBTC, which appreciated by N1.85k to close at N41.85k per share, and Dangote Cement, which went up by N1 to finish at N241 per share.

Other price gainers were CCNN, which rose by 43k to end at N9.40k, and the newly listed Global Spectrum Energy Services Plc, which appreciated by 26k to close at N5.51k per share.

However, it was a bad day for Mobil and 10 other equities, which recorded various price declines at the market on Monday. The oil stock fell by N5.40k to close at N162.50k per share.

Guinness Nigeria lost N1.42k to finish at N98.58k per share, while PZ Cussons depreciated by N1.15k to end at N22.72k per share.

Okomu Oil declined by 78k to finish at N67.22k per share, and Dangote Sugar went down by 26k to close at N17.55k per share.

The volume and value of shares transacted by investors rose today as a total of 1.1 billion equities exchanged hands on Tuesday in 4,089 deals worth N4.8 billion, compared with 942.7 million units valued at N4.8 billion traded in 3,868 deals on Monday.

The hike in the volume of traded stocks today was mainly influenced by the transactions recorded by WAPIC, which sold 655.4 million units worth N327.7 million.

Diamond Bank traded 68.2 million shares valued at N80.3 million, while Zenith Bank exchanged 62.7 million shares for N1.6 billion.

FBN Holdings transacted 49.9 million shares worth N346.5 million, and Tantalizers sold 43 million shares valued at N21.5 million.

A look at the market indicators showed that the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 252.95 points to settle at 37,503.73 points, while the market capitalisation appreciated by N88.1 billion to close at N13.1 trillion.