Bulls persist on NSE, All-Share cross 41,000 mark

The bulls maintained leadership position on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Friday with the All-Share Index crossing 41,000 mark due to gains by bluechips.

Specifically, the index which opened at 40,963.14 improved by 213 points or 0.52 per cent to close at 41,176.14.

Also, the market capitalisation inched higher by N112 billion or 0.52 per cent to close at N21.530 trillion against N21.418 trillion recorded on Thursday.

An analysis of the price movement shows that Flour Mills led the gainers’ table, gaining N2.80 to close at N32.80 per share.

MTN Nigeria Communications followed with N2 to close at N170, while Presco also gained N2 to close at N74 per share.

Nigerian Breweries added N1.95 to close at N60, while UACN increased by 75k to close at N8.25 per share.

Conversely, Ardova topped the losers’ chart, dropping by N2.15 to close at N19.70 per share.

May and Baker trailed with 22k to close at N3.63, while Zenith Bank lost 10k to close at N26.30 per share.

Unilever was down by 5k to close at N13.45, while Sterling Bank dipped 4k to close at N2 per share.

Further analysis of the activity chart indicates that Japaul Gold was the most active stock, accounting for 115.83 million shares worth N174.90 million.

Access Bank followed with account of 47.97 million shares valued at N461.74 million, while Mutual Benefits Insurance sold 42.58 million shares worth N17.88 million.

Guaranty Trust Bank trailed with a turnover of 38.62 million shares valued at N1.28 billion, while United Bank for Africa traded 37.31 million shares worth N341.93 million.

In all, investors traded 666.61 million shares valued at N6.39 billion in 6,980 deals.

This was lower when compared with 809.36 million shares worth N8.91 billion achieved in 6,706 deals on Thursday.