By Dipo Olowookere
Nigerian stocks entered another level on Friday as the total value, which is measured by market capitalisation, crossed the N19 trillion mark.
During the trading session, which closed 1.56 per cent higher, the market cap increased by N295 billion to close at N19.236 trillion as against N18.941 trillion it ended the previous day.
Business Post reports that the buying interest in blue-chip equities contributed to the 565.13 points rise in the All-Share Index (ASI) yesterday as it ended at 36,804.75 points in contrast to 36,239.62 points it finished a day earlier.
During the session, a total of 426.3 million shares worth N4.4 billion were traded in 4,298 deals in contrast to the 343.6 million equities worth N4.4 billion traded in 3,895 deals on Thursday.
A breakdown of the trades showed that Niger Insurance was the most attractive stock as it transacted 130.3 million units valued at N26.1 million.
Investors traded 23.4 million shares of GTBank worth N790.8 million, 21.8 million equities of Axa Mansard valued at N20.0 million were exchanged, 21.3 million stocks of FBN Holdings worth N150.5 million were traded, while 20.2 million shares of Zenith Bank valued at N501.1 million exchanged hands.
On the price movement chart, Dangote Cement was on top the gainers’ table with a price appreciation of N9.50, closing at N209.50 per share.
MTN Nigeria gained N5 to finish at N160 per unit, Ardova rose by N1.05 to settle at N14.30 per share, Guinness Nigeria improved by 40 kobo to N19 per unit, while Oando grew by 28 kobo to N3.14 per share.
At the other side, C&I Leasing led the losers’ group on Friday after its share price depreciated by 47 kobo to trade at N4.31 per unit.
United Capital lost 6 kobo to finish at N4.65 per share, May & Baker declined by 4 kobo to N3.85 per unit, LASACO Assurance went down by 2 kobo to 30 kobo per share, while UPDC depreciated by one kobo to 79 kobo per unit.
A look at the sectoral performance showed that the insurance sector was the highest gainer, rising by 4.02 per cent and was trailed by the industrial goods space, which grew by 2.51 per cent.
The energy index appreciated by 1.30 per cent, the banking counter gained 0.36 per cent, while the consumer goods sector moved up by 0.12 per cent.
