NSE Index Grows to 24,143.37 Points

By Dipo Olowookere

The All-Share Index (ASI) of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) crossed the 24,000 threshold on Wednesday on sustained bullish trend.

According to data from the exchange, the benchmark index increased by 334.06 points to 24,143.37 points from 23,809.31 points.

Similarly, the market capitalisation, which measures the total market size of the exchange, increased by N174 billion at the midweek session to N12.582 trillion from N12.408 trillion.

Business Post reports that there were only four price losers yesterday, while the market closed with 35 price gainers.

Nigerian Breweries was the highest price gainer, adding N3 to its share price to close at N33 per unit, while CAP gained N2 to settle at N22.90 per unit.

GTBank appreciated by N1.95 to N22.95 per share, Guinness Nigeria grew by N1.45 to sell at N18.95 per unit, while Ardova improved by N1.25 to finish at N13.95 per share.

At the other side, C&I Leasing lost 30 kobo to sell at N4.70 per share, UAC Nigeria depreciated by 25 kobo to trade at N6.95 per unit, International Breweries lost 10 kobo to quote at N4.90 per share, while Union Diagnostic fell by one kobo to finish at 31 kobo per unit.

During Wednesday’s trading session, the activity level was mixed with the volume of shares and number of deals increased by 23.60 percent and 57.47 percent respectively, while the value of shares went down by 3.53 percent.

A total of 426.6 million stocks worth N4.1 billion were traded in 7,384 deals on Wednesday compared with the 345.2 million equities worth N4.3 billion transacted in 4,689 deals on Tuesday.

FBN Holdings was the most active stock at the market, selling 91.9 million units valued at N448.1 million, while Zenith Bank sold 63.4 million shares worth N994.8 million.

Access Bank traded 55.9 million equities valued at N365.5 million, GTBank exchanged 45.9 million shares valued at N1.1 billion, while Sterling Bank transacted 24.8 million for N32.2 million.

It was observed that yesterday, the five key sectors of the market closed in the green territory, with the banking sector the highest, rising by 5.32 percent.

The insurance index grew by 3.66 percent, the consumer goods counter appreciated by 1.98 percent, the energy space grew by 1.27 percent, while the industrial goods sector appreciated by 0.64 percent.