At the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) yesterday, deals recorded in the shares of Access Bank plc, Unity Bank plc, FBN Holdings plc, United Bank for Africa plc, and Japaul Oil Palm plc helped to boost the market transaction volume.
In 5,620 deals, equity dealers exchanged 310,037,856 shares valued at about N2.979billion.
Amid this record, they exchanged 27,541,773 shares of Access Bank plc worth N288,732,126.06; 26,132,719 shares of Unity Bank plc worth N22,152,028.06; 25,743,159 shares of FBN Holdings plc worth N513,911,096.41; 24,127,13 shares of United Bank for Africa plc worth N210,352,021.51; and 19,527,010 shares of Japaul Oil Palm plc worth N13,803,686.70.
The positive sentiment trailing Nigerian equities continued till the end of trading on the floor of Nigerian Stock Exchange yesterday. Further buy-decision by most investors helped to fortify stocks pricing which reflected in about N18billion gain recorded by the stock market cap.
Also, the stock market performance indicator –the NSE All Share Index (ASI) gained 0.17 percent to 33,298.74 from the preceding day’s 33,243.53.
Stocks that benefited majorly from the perceived investors sentiment include Lafarge Cement Wapco plc which made the company to lead other stocks in price appreciation by N3.79, from an opening price of N73 to N76.79 at the end of trading.
After a rally by N2, from N57 to N59, Okomuoil Palm plc came second in the gainers chart; followed by Cadbury Nigeria plc which rose from N33.70 to N35.10, adding N1.40; Nigerian Breweries plc gained N0.91 from N166.09 to N167; while CAP plc rose from N36.10 to N37, adding N0.90. Nestle Nigeria plc led the bulk of declining stocks yesterday at the Nigerian bourse after its share price dropped from N850 to N842, losing N8.
IHEANYI NWACHUKWU
