Nigeria Stock Index rises further

Trading on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) opened for the week on the upbeat trend with major blue chips recording price growth. All-Share Index rose by 293.45 points or 0.89 per cent to close at 33,243.53 against the 32,950.08 achieved on Friday. Similarly, the market capitalisation of listed equities, which opened at N10.54 trillion, grew by N94 billion or 0.89 per cent to close at N10.64 trillion.

NewGold topped the gainers’ chart with N27 to close at N2,480 per unit. Nestle trailed with a gain of N7 to close at N850 per share, while Dangote Cement gained N5.50 to close at N147 per share. Okomuoil rose by N2 to close at N57 per share, while Flour Mills chalked up N1.75 to close at N78 per share. Conversely, Guinness recorded the highest price loss, dropping N10.49 to close at N265.01 per share.

UACN lost N1.95 to close at N53.05 per share, while GlaxoSmithkline dropped N1.39 to close at N47.51 per share. It was trailed by Cement Company of Northern Nigeria with a loss of 99k to close at N12 per share, while Nigerian Breweries shed 71k to close at N166.09 per share. The turnover of shares, however, dropped by 46.33 per cent as investors staked N2.56 billion on 230.59 million shares in 4,792 deals.

This was in contrast to the 429.65 million shares worth N4.62 billion traded in 5,456 deals on Friday. UBA emerged the most traded stock with 38.80 million shares valued at N335.39 million, while Transcorp came second with 38.14 million shares worth N59.28 million.