NSE capitalisation gains N351.5bn

Trading on the Lagos floor of the Nigerian Stock Ex­change (NSE) closed on a positive note yesterday with the twin indicators-All Share Index and Market Capitalisation- up signifi­cantly, the second high­est since the emergence of President Muhammadu Buhari administration. The market capitalisation gained N351.5 billion to close at N9.6 trillion just as the All Share Index (ASI) rose 3.8 points to settle at 27,777.83 points. Conse­quently, stock market year-to-date loss stood at 19.8 per cent.

A deep look into the NSE market statistics shows that the Wednesday perfor­mance was largely driven by buy sentiment in stocks such as Dangote Cement and Nigerian Breweries as last minute traders’ position ahead of the new year.

But market analysts with Afrinvest Limited said, “We are of the view that today’s positive perfor­mance may be linked to last minute buying by portfolio managers who closed their books for the year. We ex­pect the market to sustain gains tomorrow.”

Performance across sec­tors was broadly bullish. The NSE Premium Index topped the sectoral indices as it appreciated by 7.2 per cent due to gains recorded by Dangote Cement which added 8.59 per cent and FBN Holdings which ap­preciated by 7.61 per cent. Conversely, the NSE Bank­ing Index was the sole in­dex loser for the day, drop­ping 0.1 per cent as a result of losses incurred by Zenith Bank (1.06 per cent) and GT Bank (0.60 per cent).

Market breadth closed positive with 33 gainers and nine losers. The top three gainers were Dan­gote Cement, with 8.59 per cent or N13.05 to close at N164.95 per share followed by Nigeria Breweries Plc., which added 7.83 per cent or N9.00 to close at N124 per share, while FBN Hold­ings Plc., gained 7.61 per cent or 36 kobo to close at N5.09 per share.

On the flip side, E-tran­zact Plc topped the losers chart with a decline of five­per cent or 16 kobo to close at N3.04 per share, fol­lowed by Nigerian Aviation Handling Company Plc., which depreciated by 4.99 per cent or 18 kobo to close at N3.43 per share, while Transcorp Hotels Plc., dropped 4.92 per cent or 30 kobo to close at N5.80 per share.

At the end of the day’s transactions, investors on the Stock Exchange had, in 2,559 deals, exchanged a total of 1.4 billion shares worth N1.95 billion against 1.3 billion shares worth N3.6 billion exchanged in 2,455 deals in previous transanctions.

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