Lagos – Activities at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Wednesday closed on an upward trend, reversing two-week consistent decline with the market indicators appreciating by 3.91 per cent.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the market capitalisation grew by N302 billion or 3.91 per cent to close at N8.025 trillion compared with N7.723 trillion recorded on Tuesday.
Similarly, the All-Share Index which opened at 22,456.32 rose by 878.69 points or 3.91 per cent to close at 23,335.01 due to huge gains posted by some blue chip equities.
Market analysts attributed the reversal to bargain hunters who were taking advantage of low price of equities to increase their stakes in the market.
They said that stocks were getting very attractive with prices at ridiculously low level as some investors were using the opportunity to re-enter the market.
They attributed the downturn to worries over falling oil price and the naira exchange rate.
Nestle topped the gainers’ chart appreciating by N33.75 to close at N708.85 per share.
Dangote Cement chalked up N5.38 to close at N128.89, while Lafarge Africa improved by N3.47 to close at N83.47 per share.
Guinness garnered N3.03 to close at N96.03, while Nigerian Breweries inched N2.95 to close at N97.60 per share.
Conversely, Seplat led the losers’ table with a loss of N7.98 to close at N151.74 per share.
Ashaka Cement dipped N2.50 to close at N24, while Flour Mill dropped N1.50 to close at N16.35 per share.
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Further breakdown showed that Ikeja Hotel decreased by 29k to close at N2.81, while Honeywell shed 17k to close at N1.63 per share.
The banking stocks drove activity at the exchange with FCMB Group emerging the most traded, exchanging 37.29 million shares valued at N37.68 million.
UBA came second with a total of 36.17 million shares worth N106.78 million, while GT Bank sold 22.07 million shares valued N90.32 million.
Access Bank traded 22.07 million shares worth N90.32 million and Unity Bank accounted for 15.56 million shares valued N90.32 million.
NAN reports that investors staked N1.58 billion on 242.53 million shares traded in 3,865 deals against 256.44 million shares worth N1.97 billion exchanged in 4,731 deals on Tuesday. (NAN)
