Chinwendu Obienyi
Price appreciation in the shares of GT Bank, Zenith Bank and Access Bank drove Nigeria’s stock market index up by 0.17 per cent after consecutive losses recorded in previous trading sessions.
At the close of transactions yesterday, the All Share Index (ASI) closed at 28,140.41 points while market capitalisation rose by N174 billion to close at N14.497 trillion. Consequently, YTD return improved to 4.8 per cent.
However, activity level on the bourse weakened as volume and value traded fell 9.4 and 19.9 per cent to 317.2 million units and N3.4 billion respectively, exchanged in 4,340 deals. The most active stocks by volume were FBN Holdings (57.3 million shares), FCMB (43.2 million shares) and Zenith Bank (34.3 million shares) while Nigerian Breweries (N1.2 billion), Zenith Bank(N705.5 million) and FBN Holdings (N345.6 million) led by value.
Investors’ appetite for stocks increased as 20 equities appreciated while 14 others depreciated in value. Law Union topped the gainers’ chart with 9.78 per cent to close at N1.01, Wema Bank followed with 7.56 per cent to close at 0.71 kobo, NAHCO increased by 7.31 per cent to close at N2.39 while FCMB rose by 5.41 per cent to close at N1.95 per share.