Equities market advances by N37bn

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) market capitalisation on Friday improved further by N37 billion following price growth in some blue chips.

Specifically, the market capitalisation which opened at N13.313 trillion rose by 0.28 per cent to close at N13.350 trillion.

Also, the NSE All-Share Index appreciated by 70.98 points or 0.28 per cent to close at 25,591.95, against 25,520.97 on Thursday.

Stanbic IBTC recorded the highest gain to lead the gainers’ chart, growing by N1.50 to close at N40 per share.

Lafarge Africa came second with 60k to close at N12.80, while Flour Mills added 35k to close at N29.50 per share.

Zenith Bank garnered 25k to close at N17.20, while Guaranty Trust Bank inched higher by 25k to close at N25 per share.

On the other hand, CAP topped the losers’ chart with a loss of N1.70 to close at N15.75 per share.

Julius Berger trailed with N1.40 to close at N15.60, while Ardova lost N1.25 to close at N11.35 per share.

Guinness dipped 50k to close at N13.50, while International Breweries lost 15k to close at N3.50 per share.

A breakdown of the activity chart indicates that Custodian Investment was the most active stock, exchanging 63.09 million shares valued at N302.89 million.

Zenith Bank followed with an exchange of 17.73 million shares worth N303.57 million, while Guinness traded 13.69 million shares valued at N185.08 million.

Transcorp sold 9.28 million shares worth N5.58 million, while Africa Alliance Insurance sold 8.0 million shares valued at N1.60 million.

In all, investors traded 212.73 million shares worth N2.28 billion exchanged in 3,239 deals.

This was in contrast with 236.48 million shares valued at N1.65 billion achieved in 3,251 deals on Thursday.