Nigeria stocks jump by 0.05% on renewed buy-side activities

Nigeria’s equities market failed to see further decline with a record rise by 0.05percent or N12billion on Wednesday as investors after two days of profit taking renewed activities on the buy-side of the local bourse.
The market’s northwards close for the first time this week was fueled by investors who bought among others the shares of NGX Group Plc, PZ Cussons Plc, and NPF Microfinance Bank Plc.

Investors showed interest in the shares of NPF Microfinance Bank Plc following the approval of its Board to pay final dividend and issuance of bonus shares to absorb the unissued shares of the bank.

Wednesday’s trading session on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) closed higher as the market’s benchmark performance indicator–All Share Index (ASI) –rose from preceding day’s low of 47,340.86points to 47,364.46 points.

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Also, the value of stocks listed on the Nigerian Exchange increased from N25.514trillion to N25.526trillion. The market’s year-to-date (ytd) positive return increased to 10.88 percent.

Top advancers list includes stocks like NGX Group Plc which rose by 90kobo or 4.02percent, from N22.40 to N23.30; followed by PZ Cussons Plc which rallied by 70kobo or 9.79percent, from N7.15 to N7.85; and NPF Microfinance Bank Plc which increased from preceding day’s low of N2.10 to N2.31, adding 21kobo or 10percent. AIICO Plc also rose from 65kobo to 69kobo, adding 4kobo or 6.15percent; while Unity Bank Plc made the top gainers league, rising from 48kobo to 50kobo, up by 2kobo or 4.17percent.

Investors traded mostly the shares of UBA Plc, Access Bank Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, GTCO Plc, and Ecobank Transnational Plc. In 4,113 deals, equity traders exchanged 145,832,085 units valued at N2.535billion.