By Dipo Olowookere
With a marginal growth of 0.08 percent, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) closed the week on Friday in the green territory, extending the gains to the third straight day.
This was boosted by gains recorded by Nestle and other stocks traded on the floor of the NSE, pushing the Year-to-Date (YtD) return to 11.49 percent.
It was observed that activities were very busy in the Financial Services sector with the sector leading the activity chart with 511 million equities worth N3.8 billion traded by investors, while the Services industry followed with 211.4 million shares sold for 179 million.
Linkage Assurance was the most traded stock at the market yesterday, exchanging a total of 300.8 million units valued at N246.8 million.
It was followed by Trans Nationwide Express, which sold 199.3 million shares worth N155.5 million, and International Breweries, which transacted 57.4 million equities for N3.2 billion.
In addition, Stanbic IBTC traded 31.5 million shares for N1.5 billion, while Zenith Bank transacted 27.5 million equities for N879.2 million.
In all, a total of 815.9 million shares exchanged hands yesterday in 4,808 deals worth N8 billion compared with the 615.2 million equities traded in the previous trading session in 5,904 deals valued at N6.3 billion.
Business Post reports that the All-Share Index (ASI) slightly rose by 34.43 points on Friday to settle at 42,638.83 points, while the market capitalisation appreciated by N12.4 billion to finish at N15.302 trillion.
On the price movement chart yesterday, Nestle topped the gainers’ table after appreciating by N55 to close at N1400 per share.
It was trailed by NASCON, which rose by N1 to finish at N21 per share, and Transcorp Hotels, which grew by 35k to end at N7.55k per share.
Zenith Bank also went up by 35k to settle at N32 per share, while Cadbury Nigeria increased by 30k to finish at N15.10k per share.
On the flip side, CAP led the losers’ chart on Friday with a depreciation of N1.70k to close at N35.25k per share.
It was followed by Nigerian Breweries, which fell by 40k to finish at N131 per share, and Access Bank, which went down by 30k to end at N12.60k per share.
Ecobank slumped by 25k to settle at N19.75k per share, while UBA declined by 20k to close at N12.15k per share.
