Some highly capitalised equities posted massive price gains on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Wednesday with the market indices risen by 2.44 per cent.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the market capitalisation rose by N370 billion in a session to close at N15.549 trillion against N15.179 trillion recorded on Tuesday.
Similarly, the All-Share Index, which opened at 42,299.56, inched 1,030.98 points or 2.44 per cent to close at 43,330.54.
Market watchers said that investors were taking position of the low prices ahead of 2017 earnings season.
They said that most companies would announce their 2017 audited results in the coming week.
NAN reports that Nestle lifted the market indicators with a gain of N42 to close at N1, 442 per share.
It was trailed by Dangote Cement followed with N12.80 to close at N269.90, while Nigerian Breweries gained N5.80 to close at N135.90 per share.
Seplat added N2.60 to close at N660.50, while Unilever grew by N2.40 to close at N51.20 per share.
On the other hand, Redstar Express led the laggards’ table with a loss of 30k to close at N6 per share.
Union Bank of Nigeria depreciated by 15k to close at N6.50, while Transcorp declined by 6k to close at N1.97 per share.
Dangote Flour declined by 5k to close at N16.45, while Linkage Assurance was down by 4k to close at 80k per share.
The volume of shares traded increased by 30.37 per cent as investors bought and sold 571.87 million shares valued at N10.80 billion achieved in 5,142 deals.
This was in contrast with 438.65 million shares worth N8.79 billion transacted in 5,433 deals.
FCMB Group was the investors’ delight, accounting for 192.86 million shares worth N483.17 million.
Access Bank came second with an account of 49.59 million shares valued at N652.93 million, while FBN Holdings traded 48.10 million shares worth N551.66 million.
Transcorp exchanged 34.63 million shares valued at N69.55 million, while Zenith International Bank sold 25.57 million shares worth N816.48 million. (NAN)