Equities investors reverse 3-day loss, gain N71bn

THE All Share Index (ASI) and market capitalization added 0.81 per cent to close at 25,471.69 points and N8.813 trillion respectively, to reverse a three-day negative trend on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

The day’s positive performance which reduced the year to date losses to -5.22 per cent, is in comparison to previous session’s decline of 0.03 per cent when the ASI and market Cap closed at 25,266.15 points and N8.742 trillion, respectively.

Equities market investors gained N71.1 billion, after exchanging 158.7 million shares for N1.13 billion in 3,048 deals, compared to N2.4 billion lost on Tuesday when investors traded in 2,917 deals a total of 180.2 million shares valued at N1.6 billion.

Price movement chart showed that 23 stocks advanced against 15 stocks that declined as Mobil emerged the day’s highest gainer with an increase of 10.25 per cent to close at N347.28

Lafarge Wapco came second on the gainers list with a 10.23 per cent increase to close at N47.62 while 7up added 10.22 per cent to close at N95.89.

Next on the gainers list was Oando with a share price appreciation of 10.10 per cent to close at N5.78 per share, while Union Bank closed the day five per cent higher at N5.25 per share.

On the flip side Transnationwide Express led the day’s decliners by 8.08 per cent to close at 91 kobo per share, Fidson Pharmaceuticals followed with a depreciation of five per cent to close at 95 kobo per share, PZ Cussons dropped 4.93 per cent to close at N13.87, Nigeria Micro Finance Bank shed 4.84 per cent to close at N1.18 per share and Eco Transnational (ETI) dropped 4.62 per cent to close at N8.05 per share.

Top traded stocks were Fidelity Bank with 49.4 million shares worth N39.1 million, Zenith Bank was next with 24.3 million shares valued at N351.8 million, UBA traded 10.5 million shares amounting to N55.2 million, Guaranty transacted 10.4 million shares valued at N252.9 million and Transcorp traded 7.2 million shares for N5.2 million.