Nigerian Stock Exchange Sustains Gains by 0.54%

By Dipo Olowookere

The positive sentiment achieved last Friday was sustained on Tuesday when trading activities resumed on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Tuesday.

The market maintained its gains by 0.54 percent to reduce the 15.83 percent as a result of price appreciation printed by 18 equities in contrast to the losses recorded by 11 companies trading their shares on NSE.

This helped to improve the All-Share Index (ASI) by 141.9 points to 26,456.39 points and the market capitalisation by N69.1 billion to N12.879 trillion.

Despite the market closing positive, the activity level was mixed with the volume of shares traded going down by 12.52 percent to 378.4 million from 432.5 million and the value of transactions increasing by 28.17 percent to N7.2 billion from N5.6 billion.

Zenith Bank was the most trade equity, closing with a turnover of 86.6 million units sold for N1.5 billion, with Access Bank following after transacting 73.0 million shares valued at N682.9 million.

GTBank exchanged 37.1 million equities for N1.1 billion, Nigerian Breweries sold 36.0 million shares valued at N1.7 billion, while Fidelity Bank traded 17.7 million equities for N33.2 million.

On the price movement chart, CCNN topped the gainers’ log after adding N1.60 to its share value to close at N19.10 per share, while Dangote Cement increased by N1.40 to finish at N147.20 per unit.

Nigerian Breweries gained 70 kobo to close at N47.20 per share, Access Bank rose by 35 kobo to settle at N9.55 per unit, while UAC Nigeria improved by 30 kobo to end at N6.50 per share.

At the other side, Lafarge Africa topped the losers’ chart having lost 55 kobo of its shares price to close at N14.15 per unit, while FBN Holdings reduced by 20 kobo to end at N5.60 per share.

Ecobank lost 10 kobo to settle at N6.90 per share, Ikeja Hotel depreciated by 9 kobo to close at 88 kobo per unit, while FCMB declined by 6 kobo to finish at N1.80 per share.