By Dipo Olowookere
Activities on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) started on a positive note on Monday after the market recorded a 0.60 percent growth at the close of transactions.
The mopping up of some stocks in the banking, insurance, industrial goods and consumer goods sectors by investors boosted the All-Share Index (ASI) by 158.97 points to 26,695.18 points and the market capitalisation by N76.7 billion to N12.885 trillion.
According to data from the NSE, the volume of equities transacted increased by 9.77 percent to 170.5 million from 155.4 million, while the value of trades rose by 43.21 percent to N2.1 billion from N1.4 billion.
Apart from the energy sector, which declined by 0.46 percent, every other sector closed positive on renewed buying interest.
The banking index rose by 1.64 percent, industrial goods increased by 0.95 percent, consumer goods appreciated by 0.40 percent and the insurance grew by 0.31 percent.
The most active stock at the exchange on Monday was Access Bank. The lender sold 41.2 million units of its stocks worth N397.0 million and was trailed by UBA with a turnover of 29.2 million equities valued at N202.0 million.
Zenith Bank traded 25.6 million shares for N479.8 million, GTBank transacted 11.3 million equities valued at N332.9 million, while Transcorp exchanged 10.1 million shares worth N9.9 million.
On the price movement chart, Guinness Nigeria was the best performing stock, chalking up N2.90 to close at N32.40 per share, while Dangote Cement sucked N2 to swell to N142 per unit.
PZ Cussons swallowed 50 kobo to increase to N5.75 per share, UBA added 40 kobo to its share price to finish at N7 per unit, while Access Bank garnered 40 kobo to trade at N9.80 per share.
On the flip side, FBN Holdings suffered a 25 kobo loss to settle at N6.25 per unit, while UAC Nigeria depreciated by 15 kobo to finish at N8.75 per share.
University Press declined by 11 kobo to end at N1.21 per share, Neimeth depreciated by 6 kobo to sell at 60 kobo per share, while Cornerstone Insurance went down by 6 kobo to trade at 60 kobo per unit.
