Coming from a huge loss of about N106billion last week, the Nigerian stock market took-off this week with a marginal gain driven by investors’ appetite for blue-chip stocks.
Gains in the shares of Total Nigeria plc and Nestle Nigeria plc helped to buoy market performance. The share price of Total rallied from N148.11 to N154.80, gaining N6.69; while Nestle rose from N836 to N841, adding N5.
Money flow into blue-chip stocks has further raised participants hope that the market will coast to a new record high this week, and signaling the retail investor may be regaining confidence.
After yesterday’s transactions, the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) All Share Index (ASI) rose marginally to 32,890.35 points from 32,849.11 points the preceding trading day while market capitalisation rose from N10.511trillion to N10.524 trillion, adding N13billion. This feat was achieved as equity dealers exchanged 700,209,372 shares valued at N2.675billion in 5,725 deals. Transaction in the shares of Unity Bank, FTN Cocoa, Studio Press, Fidelity Bank, and UBA helped to enhance equities transaction volume.
Other top gainers are FGN Bond “FG8B2014S1” which rose from N97.28 to N100.57, adding N3.29; while NewGold Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) gained N3, from N2, 425 to N2, 428; also FG9B2022S1 gained N0.70kobo from N128.30 to N129.
On the losers’ side, GlaxoSmithKline led other stocks after it share price declined from N50 to N48.99, losing N1.01. Nigerian Breweries followed after its share price dropped by 50kobo from N162.50 to N162. Others in the laggard category are Portland Paint which declined from N5.35 to N5.09, losing N0.26; FG9B2017S2 dropped from N114.30 to N114.12, shedding N0.18; while Studio Press followed after a decline of N0.13, from N2.65 to N2.52.
IHEANYI NWACHUKWU
