NSE: Stock Market Closes Week with N40b Gain

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

Transactions on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) closed on a positive note on Friday as a result of return of investors’ confidence in the market.

At the close of business for the week on Friday, the stock market appreciated by 0.32 percent, leaving the year-to-date (YTD) return to close at 37.11 percent.

Like yesterday, the market breadth closed positive as 28 stocks appreciated in value against 13 equities, which posted losses of various degrees.

However, International Breweries was the highest gainer today, expanding by N1.99k to settle at N41.89k per share.

Lafarge rose by N1.50k to close at N56 per share, while Stanbic IBTC appreciated by 81k to finish at N42 per share.

Guinness Nigeria grew by 75k to end at N100 per share, and Nestle gained 50k to finish at N1240.50k per share.

On the flip side, Forte Oil suffered N2 loss today to settle at N48 per share, while CCNN fell by 50k to close at N9.68k per share.

Dangote Cement also slumped by 50k to end at N223.50k per share, Dangote Sugar went down by 16k to close at N13.69k per share, and University Press depreciated by 11k to settle at N2.22k per share.

Business Post reports that despite the market closing positive on Friday, the volume and value of shares traded by investors decreased.

Investors staked N2.2 billion on 159.6 million shares today, compared with N3.2 billion staked on 443.7 million shares yesterday at the market.

However, Diamond Bank still remained the most traded equity, though the volume dropped drastically.

A total of 25 million shares of Diamond Bank were sold today by investors at N27.8 million with its share price rising by 8.57 percent to close at N1.14k per share.

Access Bank traded 15.8 million shares worth N156 million, while Transcorp exchanged 15 million shares valued at N22.7 million.

FCMB traded 14.3 million shares at N14.8 million, and Zenith Bank transacted 9.2 million shares worth N233 million.

Our correspondent further reports that the All-Share Index (ASI) appreciated by 115.93 points at the close of activities on Friday to settle at 36,848.17 points, while the market capitalisation increased by N40 billion to close at N12.7 trillion.