NSE market capitalisation sustains growth with N6bn

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Thursday maintained positive trend for the third consecutive day with the market capitalisation improving by N6 billion.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the market capitalisation, which opened at N13.764 trillion, rose by N6 billion to close at N13.770 trillion.

Also, the All-Share Index (ASI) rose by 10.66 points or 0.04 per cent to 26,426.20 against 26,415.54 achieved on Wednesday.

The upturn was impacted by gains recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Stanbic IBTC, Ecobank Transnational Corporation (ETI), Zenith Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank and United Bank for Africa.

Analysts at Afrinvest Limited expected market performance to remain bullish at the end of the week as investors take advantage of undervalued stocks.

Market breadth closed positive with 24 stocks, compared with 11 losers.

Chams led the gainers’ table in percentage terms, growing 10 per cent, to close at 22k per share.

Stanbic IBTC Holdings followed with 9.85 per cent to close at N35.70, while Skyway Avaition Handling Company rose by 9.83 per cent to close at N2.57 per share.

Cutix improved 9.60 per cent to close at N1.37, while UACN Property Development appreciated by 9.41 per cent to close at 93k per share.

Conversely, GlaxoSmithKline recorded the highest loss in percentage terms, dropping by 9.52 per cent to close at N3.80 per share.

Jaiz Bank followed with a decline of 8.20 per cent to close at 56k, while NEM Insurance decreased by 7.49 per cent to close at N1.73 per share.

Eterna dipped 7.34 per cent to close at N2.02, while Nestle Nigeria lost 5.83 per cent to close at N1,017 per share.

Transactions in the shares of Guaranty Trust Bank topped the activity chart, having accounted for 75.79 million shares valued at N1.89 billion.

Zenith Bank followed with 62.75 million shares worth N1.25 billion, while Red Star Express traded 61.83 million shares valued at N184.24 million.

UBA sold 42.897 million shares worth N302.94 million, while United Capital transacted 33.18 mil0lion shares valued at N104.63 million.

In all, the volume of shares traded rose by 40.4 per cent with a total of 431.92 million shares worth N7.82 billion in 4,518 deals.

This was in contrast with 307.72 million shares valued at N2.81 billion exchanged in 4,419 deals on Wednesday. (NAN)