The nation’s equity market for the third consecutive day on Thursday maintained an upswing with the indices growing further by 0.59 per cent.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the All-Share Index grew by 199.64 points or 0.59 per cent to close at 33,797.84 against 33,598.20 recorded on Wednesday.
Also, the market capitalisation which opened at N11.618 trillion inched N69 billion or 0.59 per cent to close at N11.687 trillion.
Market analysts attributed the sustained growth to foreign investors renewed interest in the local bourse to MSCI increased weighting of the country’s market in its frontier market index.
They also stated that inflation figure released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) for May and foreign exchange market contributed to the development.
An analysis of the price movement table indicated that Nigerian Breweries led the gainers’ table, gaining N3.75 to close at N163.75 per share.
Unilever followed with a gain of N2.30 to close at N43 and 7UP increased by N1.50 to close at N91.80 , while Zenith Bank added N1.01 to close at N22.90 per share.
On the other hand, Mobil Oil recorded the highest loss, shedding N11.51 to close at N265 per share.
Seplat trailed with a loss of N5.51 to close at N460, while Lafarge Africa was down by N1.49 to close at N53.50 per share.
International Breweries shed 61k to close at N27.95, while Forte Oil declined by 42k to close at N55.58 per share.
In spite of the growth in market indices, the volume of shares traded closed lower as investors bought and sold 573.60 million shares valued at N7.85 billion in 6,584 deals.
NAN reports that this was lower compared with a turnover of 759.05 million shares worth N6.29 billion transacted in 7,357 deals on Wednesday.
The banking stocks were the toast of investors with Access Bank emerging the most traded, accounting for 127.62 million shares valued at N1.30 billion.
Zenith Bank sold 70.94 million shares worth N1.59 billion and FBN Holdings accounted for 56.34 million shares valued at N400.70 million.
Guaranty Trust Bank traded 51.37 million worth N1.84 billion and UBA sold 34.18 million shares valued at N305.57 million. (NAN)
JNC /EEE