Trading closes upbeat on NSE, investors gain N63bn

Trading on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) closed upbeat on Friday with the All-Share Index growing by 0.54 percent. Specifically, the index grew by 119.85 points or 0.54 per cent to close at 22,198.43 compared with 22,078.58 achieved on Thursday. Also, the market capitalisation of listed equities which opened at N11.505 trillion rose by N63 billion to close at N11.568 trillion. A breakdown of the price movement table shows that 18 stocks recorded price gains, while 13 stocks posted price depreciation.

MTN Nigeria Communications led the gainers’ table, gaining N3.50 to close at N103 per share. CAP followed with a gain of N1.50 to close at N19.50, while Julius Berger garnered N1.40 to close at N23.70 per share. NASCON improved by 85k to close at N9.40 per share. On the other hand, Presco dominated the laggards’ chart, dropping by N4 to close at N36.45 per share. Flour Mills trailed with a loss of N2.10 to close at N19.30, while Stanbic IBTC dipped N1.75 to close at N26.50 per share. PZ Cussons was down by 40k to close at N4.05, while Zenith Bank declined by 30k to close at N11.85 per share. Zenith Bank was the most active stock, exchanging 95.39 million shares worth N1.15 billion.

Fidelity Bank followed with an account of 36.52 million shares valued at N60.64 million, while Guaranty Trust Bank sold 35.72 million shares worth N650.89 million.

FBN Holdings traded 34.35 million shares valued at N138.18 million, while Access Bank accounted for 32.31 million shares worth N193.71 million. In all, the volume of shares traded closed lower as investors bought and sold 379.48 million shares valued at N3.42 billion in 4,669 deals. This was against a turnover of 525.85 million shares worth N4.74 billion achieved in 5,450 deals on Thursday.