1.4% GPD increase piques equities trading as investors gain N30.98bn

The news of the appreciation recorded in the Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the third quarter of this year, seems to excite equities investors on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), as trading improved by 0.24 per cent.

Specifically, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 89.02 points to settle at 36,792.60 points, while the market capitalisation grew by N30.98 billion to close at N12.81 trillion, thus leaving the year-to-date return to stand at 36.90 per cent.

Market breadth also ended positively with 17 price gainers and 15 price losers on Monday.

Nestle emerged the highest price gainer on Monday with N4.87k added to its share value to close at N1255.90k per share.

It was followed by PZ Cussons, which rose by N2.30 kobo to finish at N24.79 kobo per share, and Nascon, which advanced by N1.39 kobo to end at N15.89 kobo per share.

Zenith Bank also increased by 86 kobo to finish at N24.98 kobo per share, while Dangote Sugar improved by 62 kobo to end at N14.95 kobo per share.

On the laggards’ side Forte Oil was the biggest price loser, shedding N4.73 kobo to settle at N43.89 kobo per share, followed by International Breweries, which fell by 95 kobo to close at N50.85 kobo per share, just as Unilever’s stock depreciated by 50 kobo to end at N37 per share.

GTBank declined by 40 kobo to finish at N42.60 kobo per share, while Nigerian Breweries went down by 30 kobo to close at N138.50 kobo per share.

Custodian and Allied improved trading most as it trades 40.5 million shares worth N151.7 million.

FBN Holdings sold 27.5 million shares for N190 million, while Fidelity Bank traded 23.5 million shares at N37.5 million, while Diamond Bank exchanged 16.9 million shares worth N19.4 million, and Zenith Bank transacted 12.8 million shares valued at N319 million.

On Monday, investors traded 208.7 million shares worth N2.5 billion in 2,993 deals against 1.8 billion shares traded last Friday in 3,097 deals valued at N6.3 billion.