Market capitalisation grows by N5bn

Transactions on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Thursday closed at an upward trend with market capitalisation appreciating by N5billion.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the capitalisation rose from Wednesday’s figure of N11.93 trillion to N11.98 trillion on Thursday, representing 0.46 per cent increase.

The All-Share Index rose by 172 points to close at 37,308.60 points as against 37,136.60 points recorded on Wednesday.

NAN reports that the growth was due to price appreciation posted by some blue chip equities, including Mobil, which led the gainers’ pack with N3.86 to close at N124.86 per share.

GuarantyTrust Bank followed with N1.90 gain to close at N25.00, while Oando share price increased by 69k to close at N14.56.

Nigerian Breweries gained 50k to close at N146 while FBN Holdings chalked up 34k to close at N11.99 per share.

Conversely, Nestle lost N9.20 to lead the losers at the day’s transaction, closing its deals at N958.80 per share.

Cadbury lost N7.40 to close at N78 per share while Total Nigeria fell by N5 to close at N148 per share. Guinness shares dropped to N165 per share, losing N3.15 while UACN lost N3.10 to close at N58.90 per share.

The financial services sector remained the most active as Access Bank emerged the most traded equity in on the day’s transaction, trading 57.312 million shares worth N424.36 million in 239 deals.

The bank was followed by Zenith which traded 25.62 million shares valued N541.27 million in 410 deals while UBA exchanged 22.95 million shares valued N155.95 million in 216 deals.

FBN Holding sold 19.45 million shares worth N233.04 million in 471 deals and GT Bank traded 19.35 million shares worth N465.37 million in 314 deals.

In all, the volume of shares traded improved by 26.05 per cent with a total of 320.341 million shares valued at N3.76 billion achieved in 5,005 deals.

This is in contrast to the 254.148 million shares worth N3.64 billion traded in 4,270 deals on Wednesday. (NAN)