Zenith Bank, MTN, 20 Others Bring Back Bulls to Stock Market

September 11, 2020
stock market bull

By Dipo Olowookere

The bulls made a return to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Thursday after they were chased out by profit-takers, who brought in bears to devour the market.

At the equity market yesterday, gains in some large-cap stocks propelled the local bourse to a 0.38 per cent growth, which reduced the year-to-date loss to 4.92 per cent.

It equally boosted the All-Share Index (ASI) by 96.06 per cent to 25,520.97 points from 25,424.91 points and jerked up the market capitalisation by N50 billion to N13.314 trillion from N13.264 trillion.

Business Post observed that the growth witnessed yesterday was as a result of demand for the shares of some tier-one banks, which proposed the payment of interim dividend a few days ago.

As the qualification date for the cash reward is getting closer, dividend hunters have started to pick them up after their prices went low in the previous sessions.

At the close of business, Zenith Bank led the gainers’ chart, which had 22 members on Thursday, after adding 55 kobo to its share value to settle at N16.95 per unit.

MTN Nigeria gained 50 kobo to close at N120 per share, GTBank appreciated by 45 kobo to sell for N24.75 per unit, C&I Leasing improved by 30 kobo to trade at N3.85 per share, while Access Bank grew by 25 kobo to quote at N6.75 per unit.

On the losers’ log, which had 12 members, Seplat took the first spot after shedding N10 to close at N390 per share, while Fidson depreciated by 18 kobo to quote at N3.80 per share.

Custodian Investment declined by 15 kobo to sell for N4.80 per share, FCMB dropped 11 kobo to settle at N2.15 per share, while Africa Prudential decreased by 8 kobo to sell for N4.30 per share.

At the market on Thursday, a total of 236.5 million stocks worth N1.7 billion exchanged hands in 3,251 deals compared with the 269.6 million shares valued at N2.9 billion traded in 4,155 deals on Wednesday. This indicated 12.29 per cent decline in the trading volume, 42.62 per cent drop in the trading value and 21.76 per cent reduction in the number of deals yesterday.

Zenith Bank closed the session as the most active stock, transacting 33.2 million units worth N546.8 million, while Fidelity Bank traded 30.0 million shares valued at N52.7 million.

Mutual Benefits traded 25.0 million equities for N5.0 million, Wema Bank exchanged 20.2 million shares for N11.0 million, while FBN Holdings traded 20.1 million stocks for N100.3 million.

For the performance of the five major sub-sectors of the market, the banking space recorded the highest growth, rising by 2.28 per cent and was followed by the consumer goods counter, which gained 0.08 per cent and the industrial goods sector, which rose by 0.02 per cent.

The insurance index lost 1.66 per cent during the trading day, while the energy counter depreciated by 1.28 per cent.

Dipo Olowookere

Dipo Olowookere is a journalist based in Nigeria that has passion for reporting business news stories. At his leisure time, he watches football and supports 3SC of Ibadan.

Mr Olowookere can be reached via [email protected]

Leave a Reply

Naira to Dollar Exchange rate
Previous Story

Naira Trades at N450/$1 at BDC, N455/$1 at Black Market Despite CBN Intervention

Unlisted Securities Market
Next Story

Unlisted Securities Market Down by 1.04%

Latest from Economy

Don't Miss