Transactions on the floor of Nigerian Exchange on Friday closed on a positive note, appreciating by N849 billion as gains recorded in capitalised stocks impacted positively on the market performance.
This resulted in the market capitalisation of listed equities growing by 0.54 per cent to N157.056 trillion from N156.207 trillion recorded the previous day.
The NGX All Share Index also appreciated by 1316.52 basis points to 243462.13 points from 242145.61 points traded on Thursday.
The market appreciation was supported by gains in the shares of Zenith Bank; FirstHoldco; Fidelity Bank; UBA; Access Holdings Company; MTN Nigeria; Nigerian Breweries; GTCO Plc., and other 25 companies.
The market breadth was also positive with 33 advancers and 17 decliners, bringing year to date return to 56.45 per cent.
An analysis of the trading for the day showed that FirstHoldco led the gainers’ table with 9.97 per cent to close at N95.95 per unit; HMcall followed with a gain of 9.94 per cent to close at N3.65 per share; Living Trust added 9.73 per cent to close at N3.72 per share; Wapic Insurance gained 7.44 per cent to close at N2.60 per unit; Lasaco up by 5.26 per cent to close at N2.00.
On the contrary, Redstarex topped the losers’ chart, dropping by 9.50 per cent to close at N20.00 per unit; Omatek trailed with a loss of 6.08 per cent to close at N1.70 per unit; C&I Leasing fell by 5.93 per cent to close at N5.55 per unit; Jaiz Bank down by 5.03 per cent to close at N8.50 per unit; Livestock fell by 3.89 per cent to close at N8.65 per share.
Further analysis indicated that the volume of trades went up by 187.30 million, representing 37.58 per cent as investors traded 685.750 million shares against 498.450 million traded the previous day; the value of transactions also increased by 22.37 per cent to settle at N42.67 billion in 44087 deals.
Trading in the shares of FirstHoldco led market activities with 225.919 million shares valued at N20.967 billion; Guinea Insurance followed with account of 53.404 million shares worth N45.199 million; Zenith Bank exchanged 41.520 million shares cost N4.713 billion; Access Holdings Company traded 29.122 million shares valued at N720.626 million, while United Bank for Africa traded 27.511 million shares worth N1.241 billion.
