By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Trading of equities on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) ended on a positive note again on Thursday, making it the third straight day.
Gains recorded by Total Plc and 30 other stocks left the stock market closing 0.62 percent higher with the year-to-date return increasing to 41.19 percent today.
The market breadth finished positive as the stock market recorded a total 31 price gainers and 18 price losers.
Total Plc gained N11 to close at N241 per share, while 7up increased by N4.62k to finish at N97.12k per share.
Dangote Cement added N4 to its share value to settle at N245 per share, Forte Oil rose by N2.79k to end at N45.99k per share, and International Breweries progressed by N2.16k to finish at N60 per share.
However, Nigerian Breweries went down by N5.40k to close at N132.30k per share, and Guinness Nigeria depreciated by N1.7k to finish at N97.51k per share.
Flour Mills of Nigeria declined by 50k to settle at N33.50k per share, Ecobank slumped by 28k to close at N16.70k per share, while PZ Cussons crashed by 22k to settle at N22.3k per share.
Business Post reports that the All-Share Index (ASI) appreciated today by 235.40 points to settle at 37,944.60 points, while the market capitalisation improved by N82 billion to finish at N13.2 trillion.
It was observed that the market was very busy today with the volume and value of equities traded by investors growing astronomically.
A total of 11.8 billion worth N21.4 billion exchanged hands on Thursday in 5,152 deals compared with the 441.8 million units sold on Wednesday in 4,263 deals valued at N4.1 billion.
This spike in the volume of shares traded today was as a result of 11.3 billion units of Transcorp shares sold for N14.3 billion.
Fidelity Bank traded 117.2 million shares worth N246 million, while FBN Holdings transacted 53.6 million shares valued at N380.6 million.
Zenith Bank sold 39.7 million shares for N990.7 million, and FCMB transacted 32.2 million shares valued at N37 million.
Adedapo Adesanya