Bulls lead at Nigeria bourse as stock indices improve by 1.58 per cent

The bulls sustained dominance on the Nigeria bourse for the fourth consecutive day, with crucial market indices improving further by 1.58 per cent on Thursday. Nigerian Stock Exchange This followed price appreciation by some highly capitalised and medium-size equities with Dangote Cement leading the gainers’ pack with N9.20 to close at N239. 20 per share. NASCON followed with a gain of N2.05 to close at N22.40, while Lafarge Africa rose by N1.80 to close at N39.80 per share. International Breweries advanced by N1.60 to close at N43.60, while Stanbic IBTC gained N1.40 to close at N47.50 per share. Consequently, the market capitalisation grew by N220 billion or 1.58 per cent to close at N14.142 trillion, compared to N13.922 trillion recorded on Wednesday. Also, the All-Share Index which opened at 38,435.29 inched 580.37 points or 1.58 per cent to close at 39,042.11. On the other hand, Seplat Petroleum Development Company recorded the highest loss for the day, dropping by N5 to close at N735 per share. Eterna Oil trailed with a loss of 36k to close at N6.90, while Zenith Bank was down by 20k to close at N27.80 per share. FBN Holdings depreciated by 15k to close at N10.90, while United Bank for Africa also went down by 15k to close at N11.10 per share. An analysis of the activity chart indicates that Wapic Insurance dominated trading activities, accounting for 118. 39 million shares worth N62.63 million. Guaranty Trust Bank followed with an account of 106.09 million shares valued at N4.46 billion, while Diamond Bank exchanged 33.73 million shares worth N54.89 million. FBN Holdings sold 30.75 million shares valued at N338.05 million, while Fidelity Bank exchanged 27.75 million shares worth N64.20 million. In all, the volume of shares traded closed higher with a total of 492.05 million shares valued at N7.62 billion achieved in 4,726 deals. This was in contrast with a turnover of 393.12 million shares worth N6.67 billion traded in 5,285 deals on Thursday. (NAN)