By Dipo Olowookere
Transactions on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) closed on a positive note for the third straight session on Wednesday.
This occurred as investors’ confidence on the Nigerian market gradually returns despite political drama in the country, especially with an impeachment threat given on Tuesday by the parliament to President Muhammadu Buhari over affairs of the nation.
At the close of midweek trade, the equity market improved by 1.53 percent, while the Year-to-Date (YtD) returns ended at 0.50 percent, going back into the positive zone after it slipped into the danger territory last week.
Business Post reports that the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 580.37 points to settle 38,435.29 points, while the market capitalisation, which measures the value of quoted stocks on the NSE, appreciated by N210.2 billion to close at N13.922 trillion.
A look as the sector performance showed that they all ended in the positive region. The NSEIND, NSEOILG5, NSEBNK10, NSEINS10, and NSEFBT10 appreciated by 4.16 percent, 0.63 percent, 1.15 percent, 0.99 percent and 2.51 percent respectively.
Investors’ mood as reflected by the market breadth finished positive with 44 price gainers and 16 price losers.
Nigerian Breweries topped the gainers’ chart with N5.50k added to its share value to settle at N116.80k per share.
It was followed by Guinness Nigeria, which went up by N4.75k to finish at N99.75k per share, and Lafarge, which improved by N3.25k to end at N38 per share.
Dangote Cement increased by N2 to close at N230 per share, while Flour Mills went up by N1.80k to finish at N32.95k per share.
On the flip side, it was a bad day for Okomu Oil as the stock depreciated by N2 to settle at N82 per share.
CCNN lost 95 kobo to close at N28 per share, while May and Baker declined by 11 kobo to finish at N2.54k per share.
GTBank went down by 10 kobo to settle at N41.90k per share, while NPF Microfinance Bank fell by 8 kobo to end at N1.61k per share.
Business Post reports that the volume and value of equities transacted by investors increased by 15.73 percent and 11.91 percent respectively.
A total of 393.1 million shares were exchanged at the market yesterday in 5,285 deals valued at N6.7 billion compared with the 339.7 million equities sold in the previous session worth N6 billion executed in 4,436 deals.
The Financial Services sector led the activity chart on Wednesday with 311.6 million shares traded at N4.4 billion. This was followed by the Consumer Goods industry, which exchanged 28.2 million equities for N563 million.
Zenith Bank emerged the most traded stock at the market with 110.6 million units sold for N3.1 billion.
It was followed by Fidelity Bank, which traded 63.9 million shares valued at N148.4 million, and UBA, which exchanged 22.5 million equities worth N255.3 million.
Access Bank transacted 20.3 million shares for N220.3 million, while Diamond Bank sold 17.5 million equities for N27.9 million.
