Gains by MTNN and Dangote Cement, Nigeria’s biggest and second biggest companies by market value in that order, lifted the equity market section of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Thursday, with trade bottoming out on Wednesday after two days of consecutive losses and stocks adding N176.705, the biggest single-day gain in more than one month.
Besides the impact of the Industrial Index, the upward drift in the total value of stocks was bolstered by the Insurance Index, where Custodian Investment and Mansard Insurance were at the forefront of performance.
Market breadth was neutral as it was on Wednesday. There were 11 gainers and there were 11 losers.
The All Share Index (ASI) jumped 1.40%% to 24,512.27 basis points, 338.74 points higher than the previous session’s. Market capitalisation rose to N12.787 trillion at the end of trade.
Year to date, the index is down by 8.68%.
TOP 5 GAINERS
Dangote Cement led gainers, appreciating by 10% to close at N134.20. Jaiz Bank added up 7.41% to end trade at N0.58. Custodian went up by 3.09% to N5. African Prudential rose to N4.12, notching up 2.74% in the process. Sterling Bank completed the top 5, climbing up by 1.69% to N1.20.
READ ALSO: NSE: GSK, Consolidated Hallmark, Prestige lead losers as trade closes flat
TOP 5 LOSERS
Neimeth topped the losers’ chart declining by 6.67% to close at N1.40. Mutual Benefit shed 4.76% to end trade at N0.20. BUA fell to N40, losing 3.50% in the process. Dangote Sugar slumped to N11.70, recording 2.50% depreciation. Caverton closed at N1.80, going down by 2.17%.
TOP 5 TRADES
164.289 million shares estimated at N2.126 billion were traded in 24,512.27 deals.
FBN Holdings was the most active stock with 42.675 million of its stocks worth N211.270 million traded in 273 deals. 20.036 million units of Custodian Investment shares priced at N100.178 million exchanged hands in 8 transactions. Zenith Bank had 17.937 million shares valued at N278.970 million traded in 359 deals. GTB traded 11.671 million shares estimated at N251.195 million in 302 transactions. UBA traded 8.443 million shares valued at N51.507 million in 181 deals.
Opinions