DESPITE the bears' run which dominated the equities sector of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) for the better part of last week, trading activities were on the upbeat yesterday, as price gains enjoyed by many blue chip stocks enhanced the corporate performance indicators by 1.02 per cent.
With transactions done in 29,534 deals, investors, yesterday, staked N2.07 billion on 569.3 million shares, up from a total of 3358.3 million shares valued at N1.78 billion exchanged at the close of transactions last week Friday.
Precisely, the All-Share Index rose by 224.38 points from 222,030.18 points on Friday to 22,254.56 points yesterday, while market capitalisation of listed equities closed higher at N5.36 trillion from N5.30 trillion recorded on Friday.
Accounting for the bulk of transactions in the equities sector, a second-tier security in the emerging markets sector, Capital Oil Plc, was the most active in volume terms, trading 250.5 million shares worth N125.3 million, followed by the banking sub-sector with 175.5 million shares valued at N1.16 billion, while the insurance sub-sector exchanged 48.2 million shares worth N60.9 million.
Further review of activities in the sub-sectors showed that the volume of activities in the banking sub-sector was lifted by a combined 77.3 million shares of United Bank for Africa Plc, FinBank Plc, and Fidelity Bank Plc.
On the other hand, the insurance sub-sector's volume was boosted by 17 million shares of Guaranty Trust Assurance Plc worth N37.4 million, followed by Lasaco Assurance Plc with 6.4 million shares valued at N3.3 million, while Continental Reinsurance Plc ranked third with six million shares valued at N6.1 million.
On the day's price movement chart, Seven-Up Bottling Company Plc led the bulls, up by 120 kobo to close at N30.60 per share, followed by Glaxo Smithkline Consumer Plc with 110 kobo per share to close at N23.111 per share, while Benue Cement Company Plc ranked third with 95 kobo to close at N50.00 per share.
Similarly, PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, Dangote Flour Mills Plc, Cadbury Nigeria Plc, UAC Property Development Company Plc, and Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, all added 80 kobo, 71 kobo, 59 kobo, 50 kobo, and 47 kobo each to close at N25.80, N15.07, N12.57, N16.00, N21.00 and N16.99 respectively.
On the other hand, Unilever Nigeria Plc topped the day's price losers' chart with a loss of 125 kobo to close at N23.84 per share, followed by Ashaka Cement Company Plc with 52 kobo to close at N12.48 per share, while Nigerian Aviation Handling Company Plc lost 44 kobo to close at N8.41 per share.
Furthermore, NCR Nigeria Plc, RT Briscoe Plc, Vitafoam Nigeria Plc, and Presco Plc, all shed 38 kobo, 30 kobo, 26 kobo, and 25 kobo each to close at N8.13, N5.96, N5.02 and N4.81 respectively.
Source:© Copyright Guardian Online
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