Modupe Gbadeyanka
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Guinness Plc and 12 other equities led the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) to its first gain of the year 2017 on Friday.
The stock market has had to endure three straight losses since it opened for trading activities on Tuesday, January 3, 2017. This made investors to lose about N228 billion since the beginning of the year.
But the negative trend was reversed on Friday as the market closed positive with the market indicators finishing 0.15 percent better.
The all-share index improved by 39.3 basis points to end at 26,251.39 basis points, while the market capitalisation advanced by N14 billion to close at N9.03 trillion.
Though 13 equities appreciated at the close of trading activities today, but 16 stocks depreciated in price, while 13 remained flat.
The volume of shares traded on the floor of the stock exchange went higher today by 72.5 million units. In total, investors traded 210 million shares in 2,659 deals at N1.5 billion compared with 138 million transacted yesterday in 2,488 deals worth N899 million.
While Guinness led the top gainers’ chart by adding N1.10k to close at N80 per share, Zenith Bank trailed after going up by 27k to end at N14.77k per share.
Also, Oando gained 15k to finish at N4.69k per share, Access Bank improved by 14k to end at N6.28k per share and UCAP advanced by 14k to close at N3.2k per share.
On the contrary, Mobil slumped by N13.95k to finish at N265.5k per share to lead the top losers, Nestle fell by N1 to end at N809 per share, Cadbury declined by 50k to close at N9.50k per share, Union Bank depreciated by 27k to end at N5.22k per share and UACN went down by 26k to finish at N16.64k per share.
On the top trades chart in terms of volume, Oando led by selling 51 million units valued at 223.5 million, while FCMB followed trading 36 million shares worth N41.5 million and Zenith Bank came third exchanging 21 million units at N306 million.
