NSE: market capitalisation sustains upward posture, up N65bn

Trading on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) sustained positive trend on Thursday for the second consecutive day.

Speficially, the market capitalisation increased further by N65 billion or 0.51 per cent to close at N12.823 trillion against N12.758 trillion on Wednesday.

Also, the All-Share Index which opened at 26,434.00 inched 135.80 points or 0.51 per cent to close at 26,569.80.

The upturn was impacted by gains recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, among which are; Presco, Nigerian Breweries, Guaranty Trust Bank, Dangote Sugar Refinery and Cadbury Nigeria.

Analysts at Afrinvest Limited said “we expect the bullish performance to be sustained in the subsequent session; however, we maintain our bearish outlook in the near term.”

Market breadth closed positive with 17 stocks against 13 losers.

A breakdown of the price movement chart shows that Presco led the gainers’ table during the day, gaining N3.60 to close at N41.45 per share.

It was trailed by Nigerian Breweries with a gain of N1.45 to close at N52.70, while Guaranty Trust Bank gained N1 to close at N29 per share.

Dangote Sugar added 90k to close at N16, while Cadbury grew by 85k to close at N9.90 per share.

On the other hand, Union Bank of Nigeria recorded the highest price loss to lead the losers’ chart, declining by 30k to close at N6.30 per share.

Cutix came second with a loss of 14k to close at N1.35, while Unilever was down by 10k to close at N18.40 per share.

Lafarge Africa also lost 10k to close at N13.50, while Neimeth went down by 7k to close at 66k per share.

Union Dicon was the most active stock during the day, exchanging 186.990 million shares worth N41.139 million.

Fidelity Bank followed with an account of 19.75 million shares valued at N40.92 million, while Dangote Cement sold 12.32 million shares worth N1.73 billion.

Zenith Bank exchanged 10.85 million shares valued at N201.70 million, while United Bank for Africa traded 8.37 million shares worth N57.35 million.

In all, the volume of shares traded rose by 77.38 per cent with an exchange of 319.69 million shares worth N3.07 billion in 2,503 deals.

This was in contrast with 180.23 million shares valued at N3.02 billion in 2,951 deals. (NAN)