Nigerian Stock Market capitalisation inches up by N55 billion

Prices of shares at the Nigerian Stock Exchange maintained a positive trend with the indices appreciating further by 0.48 percent. Specifically, the All-Share Index which opened at 21,757.47 inched 104.31 points or 0.48 percent to close at 21,861.78. In the same vein, the market capitalisation rose by N55 billion to close at N11.393 trillion compared with N11.338 trillion recorded on Thursday. An analysis of the price movement table shows that CAP led the gainers’ table, gaining N1.70 to close at N23.20 per share.

Zenith Bank followed with 50k to close at N12.60, while Guaranty Trust Bank improved by 45k to close at N18.45 per share. International Breweries added 40k to close at N5.40, while GlaxoSmithKline gained 35k to close at N3.85 per share. Conversely, Nigerian Breweries topped the losers’ chart, dropping by N1.30 to close at N25.50 per share. C &I Leasing trailed with a loss of 65k to close at N6.20, while Africa Prudential was down by 38k to close at N3.42 per share. FBN Holdings lost 10k to close at N4.05, while Oando also dipped 10k to close at N2.05 per share.

The banking stocks maintained leadership as the most active with Guaranty Trust Bank emerging as the toast of investors, exchanging 54.27 million shares worth N1.01 billion. Zenith Bank came second with an account of 42.87 million shares valued at N538.78 million, while FBN Holdings traded 36.44 million shares worth N147.34 million. United Bank for Africa sold a total of 24.11 million shares valued at N124.80 million, while FCMB Group accounted for 16.29 million shares worth N24.47 million. In all, investors staked N3.36 billion on 261.41 million shares exchanged in 3,968 deals. This was in contrast with a total of 172.16 million shares valued at N1.89 billion achieved in 3,542 deals on Thursday. (NAN)