Nigerian Equities Sustain Upward Trend With N70b Gain

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

The positive momentum, which returned on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) yesterday, mainly influenced by Nestle, was again retained today also by gains recorded by Nestle at the market.

Business Post reports that at the close of transactions on Thursday, investors posted a gain of N70 billion, further boosting their confidence that the week might eventually end positive tomorrow.

Unlike yesterday, the volume of transactions and market turnover increased today with 128.3 million shares transacted by investors in 3,241 deals worth N2.7 billion, compared with 119.9 million shares traded on Wednesday in 3,015 deals valued at N1.8 billion.

A larger percentage of those trades were dominated by banking stocks with Zenith Bank emerging the most active, exchanging 20.2 million shares worth N451.8 million.

It was trailed by GTBank, which traded 19 million shares at N724.5 million, and Skye Bank, which moved 10.5 million shares worth N5.4 million.

FBN Holdings transacted 7.3 million shares at N42 million, while Jaiz Bank sold 7.1 million shares valued at N4.7 million.

On the price movement chart, Nestle topped the gainers’ log with N15 added to its share value to settle at N1205 per share.

Dangote Cement rose by N4.99k to finish at N213.99k per share, while Okomu Oil grew by N3.61k to end at N66.50k per share.

Flour Mills of Nigeria advanced by 50k to close at N27 per share, and Nigerian Breweries moved up by 49k to finish at N180.55k per share.

On the flip side, Total Plc went down by N2.90k to settle at N232.10k per share, while Unilever lost N2.20k to finish at N41.80k per share.

In the same vein, ConOil fell by N1.45k to close at N27.55k per share, Zenith Bank depreciated by 55k to end at N22.20k per share, and International Breweries shed 47k to wrap the day at N37.53k per share.

Business Post also reports that when market activities were brought to a halt on Thursday, the year-to-date was pushed forward to 32.69 percent following 0.55 percent rise recorded by the NSE, while the All-Share Index (ASI) grew by 195.7 points to settle at 35,660.04 points.

In addition, the market capitalisation increased by N70 billion to close at N12.3 trillion, while the market breath still remained negative like yesterday, closing today with 16 gainers and 22 losers.

Business Post observed that investors are treading cautiously at the market as they look forward to the release of third quarter earnings of listed stocks next month.