By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Transactions on the trading floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) ended in the green zone on Thursday, extending the northward movement to the second straight day.
The stock market finished 1.42 percent higher today, pushing the year-to-date return to 34.37 percent.
However, the market breadth closed negative with 19 advancing stocks and 22 losers.
In the same vein, the volume and value of shares transacted by investors declined today compared with what was traded yesterday.
Business Post reports that Thursday’s positive performance at the market was mainly influenced by gains recorded by Dangote Cement, which added N9.79k to its share value to settle at N216.91k per share.
Also, Guinness Nigeria appreciated by N8.94k to close at N96.33k per share, while Stanbic IBTC progressed by N1.49k to finish at N39.90k per share.
Furthermore, Nigerian Breweries grew by N1.40k to end at N184 per share, and Flour Mills of Nigeria moved up by N1 to finish at N30 per share.
At the other end, Seplat declined by N24.10k to close at N457.90k per share, while Mobil fell by 99k to end at N165.1k per share.
In addition, NCR Nigeria Plc depreciated by 36k to end at N6.97k per share, FBN Holdings went down by 26k to settle at N5.76k per share, and Oando sank by 23k to wrap the day at N6.30k per share.
A look at the major market indicators today showed that the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 507.12 points to settle at 36,116.19 points, while the market capitalisation expanded by N175 billion to close at N12.5 trillion.
A total of 222.7 million shares were traded in 4,622 deals by investors on Thursday worth N4.2 billion in contrast to 281.8 million shares transacted on Wednesday in 4,066 deals valued at N5.4 billion.
Financial stocks remained the toast of investors on the trading floor of the NSE with Sterling Bank emerging the most active stock after the day’s activities, trading 36.6 million shares worth N37.3 million.
It was trailed by Royal Exchange, which exchanged 35.7 million shares worth N17.9 million, and Fidelity Bank, which sold 22 million shares valued at N29.4 million.
Access Bank moved 21.6 million shares worth N212.5 million, while Zenith Bank traded 18.5 million shares valued at N442.7 million.
Investors are upbeat that the bullish sentiments would remain as they continue to savour news of Nigeria exiting recession.
