FO, Nestle buoy the market to N3bn gain

The equities transactions on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) appreciated by  N3 billion following price gainers in Forte Oil Plc, Nestle Nigeria and 14 other companies. .

As such, the market capitalisation berthed at N8.831 trillion with a marginal gain of 0.03 per cent or N3 billion compared to N8.834 trillion it opened for trading on Wednesday.

The equities market benchmark All-Share Index settled on Wednesday’s trading at 25,673.80 basis points from 25,671.23 basis points it closed on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the market breadth closed negative with 16 gainers and 20 losers. Forte Oil led the gainers table by 10.24 per cent to close at N87.42 per share. Transcorp followed with a gain of 7.32 per cent to close at 88 kobo, while Portland Paints advanced by 4.81 per cent to close at N2.18 per share.

While Caverton went up by 4.44 per cent to close at 94 kobo and NEM Insurance rose by 4.17 per cent to close at 75 kobo per share.

On the other hand, Oando led the laggards’ table by 9.43 per cent to close at N4.13 per share. Transnational Corporation trailed with a loss of 4.96 per cent to close at N4.98, while Avon Crown declined by 4.55 per cent to close at N1.26 per share.

Also, Vitafoam declined by 4.39 per cent to close at N2.18, while Flourmill shed by 3.63 per cent to close at N18.30 per share.

Meanwhile, the total volume traded rose by 35 per cent to 255.77 million shares, valued at N2.08 billion, and traded in 2,480 deals. Transactions in the shares of Wema Bank topped the activity chart with 100.23 million shares valued at N53.12 million. Diamond Bank followed with 35 million shares worth N30 million, while Access Bank traded 22.38 million shares valued at N123.13 million.

Transcorp traded 16.3 million shares worth N14.56 and FCMB transacted 13.53 million shares valued at N14.14 million.