Unity Bank notifies NSE of trading closure to consider audited reports, fund raising

Unity Bank Plc on Wednesday notified the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) of the closure for trading on the bank’s shares to enable it consider its audited reports and raise funds from the bourse.

The bank’s Company Secretary, Mr Mohammed Shehu, said in a letter to the NSE that the bank’s board of directors would meet on Feb. 8 on the issues.

Shehu said that the results would only be published on the exchange after relevant regulatory approval.

“In compliance with the NSE Rule Book and the amendments to the listing rules, Unity Bank hereby declares the commencement of the closed period for trading in the bank’s shares from Jan. 23.

“Accordingly, no insider with sensitive information, advisers and consultants of the bank and their connected persons may directly or indirectly deal in the shares of the bank until 24 hours after the release of the audited reports,” he said.

Meanwhile, trading on the NSE on Wednesday sustained positive outlook with the crucial market indicators improving by 0.46 per cent.

Breakdown of the price movement indicates that Guaranty Trust Bank led the gainers’ table by 90k to close at N33 per share.

Stanbic IBTC got 50k to close at N47.50, while Fidelity Bank gained 20k to close at N2.29 per share.

Zenith Bank appreciated by 20k to close at N22, while FBN Holdings added 10k to close at N7.40 per share.

Consequently, the All-Share Index rose by 141.68 points or 0.46 per cent to close at 30,878.56 against the 30,736.88 recorded on Tuesday.

Also, the market capitalisation, which opened at N11.462 trillion inched N52 billion to close at N11.514 trillion.

Conversely, Forte Oil topped the losers’ chart by 50k to close at N29.50 per share.

UACN trailed with a loss of 40k to close at N8.50, while NEM Insurance was down by 11k to close at N2.39 per share.

May and Baker dipped 6k to close at N2.39, while Dangote Floor declined by 5k to close at N6.55 per share.

The banking equities were the most active stocks as investors’ traded 155.84 million shares worth N875.21 million of Access Bank.

United Bank for Africa followed with 62.12 million shares valued at N450.81 million, while FCMB Group traded 32.56 million shares worth N63.26 million.

Zenith Bank sold 31 million shares valued at N678.83 million, while Fidelity Bank traded 26.17 million shares worth N58.60 million.

In all, the volume of shares transacted grew by 52.96 per cent as investors bought and sold 376.26 million shares valued at N2.97 billion in 3,405 deals.

This is in contrast to a turnover of 245.99 million shares worth N2.44 billion traded in 3,320 deals on Tuesday.