NSE maintain bullish trend, investors networth rallied by N191bn

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) sustained bullish trend on Friday with the market capitalisation rising further by N191 billion due to Nestle gain.

Speficially, the market capitalisation which opened at N11.754 trillion rose by N191 billion to close at N11.945 trillion.

Also, the All-Share Index which opened at 22,554.84 grew by 366.75 points or 1.63 per cent to close at 22,921.59.

Market watchers attributed the persistent four-day rally to activities of institutional investors who were taking advantage of low price of stocks to increase their stake in the market.

Nestle Nigeria dominated the gainers’ table with a gain of N53.80 to close at N967 per share.

Nigerian Breweries trailed with N2.90 to close at N32.35, while BUA Cement garnered N2.45 to close at N31.85 per share.

Conoil appreciated by N1.55 to close at N17.40, while NASCON improved by 85k to close at N9.35 per share.

Conversely, Ardova topped the losers’ chart with a loss of N1.10 to close at N10.10 per share.

Cadbury came second with 70k to close at N6.30, while Lafarge Africa dipped 40k to close at N11.60 per share.

Flour Mills was down by 30k to close at N21.20, while Oando dipped 26k to close at N2.62 per share.

In spite of the growth by market indicators, volume of shares traded by investors closed lower.

Consequently, investors bought and sold 231.61 million shares valued at N2.61 billion transacted in 4,521 deals.

This was in contrast with 379.11 million shares valued at N4.33 billion traded in 5,985 deals on Thursday.

The banking stocks remained the toast of investors with FBN Holdings emerging the most active, exchanging 47.69 million shares worth N219.71 million.

United Bank for Africa followed with 36.53 million shares valued at N220.47 million, while Guaranty Trust Bank accounted for 32.85 million shares worth N686.88 million.

Zenith Bank sold 29.89 million shares valued at N445.81 million, while Fidelity Bank accounted for 16.28 million shares worth N33.29 million.