Follow Us on Google
Chinwendu Obienyi
Investors trading at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) had cause to smile this week as the aggregate market value of all quoted equities rose by N535 billion in two consecutive days.
This followed gains in the shares of Nigerian Breweries, MTNN and BUA Cement, which the All Share Index (ASI) grew by 1.90 per cent to close at 33,268.36 points while market capitalisation rose by N325 billion to close at N17.383 trillion. This means that investors have gained N535 billion in two days while year-to-date (ytd) return improved to 23.9 per cent.
Meanwhile, activity level surged as the volume and value of stocks traded increased by 48.3 and 17.0 per cent to 858.15 million units and N9.06 billion respectively, exchanged in 8,142 deals.
Commenting on the performance of the market, Afrinvest, said, “While there is yet room for profit-taking, we expect the local bourse to close the week on a bullish note.”
On the price chart, investors continued to place premium on most stocks as 51 stocks appreciated in value while 7 others depreciated. Fidson topped the gainers’ chart with 10 per cent to close at N4.95 per share, Guinness followed with 10 per cent to close at N20.90, Neimeth gained 10 per cent to close at N2.42, Sterling Bank garnered 10 per cent to close at N2.20 while Glaxosmithkline rose by 9.85 per cent to close at N7.25.
Learn Africa led the laggards with 4.76 per cent to close at N1 per share. Cileasing was next with 4.65 per cent to close at N4.10, Stanbic fell by 4.17 per cent to close at N46, Linkage Assurance decreased by 4.08 per cent to close at 0.47 kobo while Redstarex lost 3.68 per cent to close at N3.40.
FBN Holdings was the most active stock with the sale of 145.05 million shares valued at N1.07 billion. Transcorp sold 126.26 million shares worth N141.21 million while Zenith Bank traded 60.81 million shares worth N1.52 billion.
