By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) recorded a marginal growth on Wednesday.
This was the second growth achieved on the floor of the NSE this week and it also came a day after the Workers’ Day celebration marked on Tuesday, which resulted into the closure of the market for that day.
Business Post reports that there was an increased buying pressure across most counters in the bourse yesterday, indicating an improved investor confidence on the market.
At the close of business, the stock market appreciated slightly by 0.09 percent with the year-to-date returns increasing to 8.01 percent.
Also, the market breadth ended positive with 25 price gainers and 15 price losers.
Mobil Oil Nigeria emerged the biggest price gainer, appreciating by N16.70k to settle at N191.50k per share.
It was followed by Dangote Cement, which increased by N1.90k to close at N247.90k per share, and Presco, which advanced by 70k to finish at N70 per share.
Union Bank grew by 25k to end at N6.50k per share, while Zenith Bank went up by 15k to wrap the day at N27.60k per share.
Conversely, Nestle Nigeria topped the price losers’ chart after going down by N29 to settle at N1570 per share.
It was trailed by Dangote Flour declined by N1.25k to close at N12.05k per share, and Nigerian Breweries, which fell by 90k to end at N129 per share.
Cadbury Nigeria depreciated by 65k to finish at N13.15k per share, while Dangote Sugar reduced by 50k to wrap the day at N20 per share.
However, the volume of transactions recorded on Wednesday declined, while the value of trades appreciated.
A total of 276.2 million shares worth N6.9 billion were traded in 5,327 deals on Wednesday compared with 450.5 million equities valued at N5 billion executed in 4,699 deals.
UBA emerged the most active stock at the market yesterday, trading a total of 52.3 million units worth N610.9 million.
It was followed by GTBank, which sold 42.3 million equities valued at N1.9 billion, and Zenith Bank, which transacted 30.1 million shares for N832.4 million.
Fidelity Bank exchanged 24.1 million shares valued at N60.6 million, while FCMB traded 17.3 million units for N44 million.
For the major market indices yesterday, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 38.01 points to close at 41,306.02 points, while the market capitalisation went up by N13.8 billion to finish at N14.962 trillion.
Adedapo Adesanya