NSE maintains positive posture on low price attraction, quarter end activities

Trading activities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) closed northward on Friday, amid quarter end window dressing and low price attraction.

Our correspondent reports that the All-Share Index inched 217.52 points or 0.73 per cent to close at 29,966.87 against 29,749.35 achieved on Thursday.

In the same vein, the market capitalisation which opened at N13.109 trillion rose by N96 billion or 0.73 per cent to close at N13.205 trillion.

Mr Ambrose Omordion, the Chief Operating Officer, InvestData Ltd., attributed the development to quarter end window dressing embarked on by some institutional and portfolio investors.

Omordion said that low price attraction contributed to the reversal being witnessed on the nation’s bourse, with most equities trading below their intrinsic value.

A breakdown of the price movement shows that Nigerian Breweries led the gainers’ table, gaining N5.50 kobo to close at N63 per share.

Guaranty Trust Bank followed with a gain of N2.10 to close at N32.90, while Julius Berger appreciated by N1 to close at N21.90 per share.

Unilever garnered 95k to close at N33, while Stanbic IBTC increased by 75k to close at N40.25 per share.

Conversely, Nestle topped the laggards’ table with a loss of N10 to close at N184 per share.

Dangote Cement trailed with a loss of N1 to close at N184, while Forte Oil lost 60k to close at N26.80 per share.

Access Bank dropped by 20k to close at N6.50, while Union Bank of Nigeria lost 15k to close at N6.85 per share.

In all, investors traded 248.36 million shares worth N5.403 billion in 3184 deals.

This was in contrast with 301.18 million shares valued at N5.03 billion traded in 4187 deals on Thursday.

Guaranty Trust Bank was the most active stock during the day, exchanging 83.56 million shares worth N2.60 billion.

Ecobank Transnational followed with an account of 25.06 million shares valued at N269.74 million, while Zenith Bank traded 18.25 million shares worth N362.22 million.

Lafarge Africa accounted for 16.21 million shares valued at N195.15 million.