NSE market capitalisation improves by N121b

Activities at the Nigerian Stock Exchange on Thursday sustained a positive trend with the market capitalisation appreciating by N121 billion due to gains by some highly capitalised stocks.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the market capitalisation grew by 1.51 per cent to close at N8.146 trillion in contrast with N8.025 trillion posted on Wednesday.
Similarly, the All-Share Index rose by 351.66 points or 1.51 per cent to close at 23,686.67 against 23,335.01 recorded on Wednesday.
NAN reports that the growth was lifted by shares in the banking, cement and food firms.
Nestle for the second consecutive day topped the gainers’ table, growing by N35.50 to close at N744.15 per share.
7UP followed with a gain of N10.99 to close at N172.99, while Nigerian Breweries gained N7.90 to close at N105.50 per share.
Okomu Oil Palm appreciated by N2.01 to close at N30, while Guinness grew by 97k to close at N97 per share.
On the other hand, Lafarge Africa recorded the highest price loss to lead the losers’ chart, shedding N1.47 to close at N82 per share.
Ashaka Cement trailed with 45k to close at N23.55, while Ecobank Transnational also declined by 45k to close N14.86 per share.
Vitafoam lost 40k to close at N4.58 and Flour Mills decreased by 22k to close at N16.13 per share.
NAN also reports that volume of shares traded closed higher as investors bought and sold 476.15 million shares valued N3.64 billion traded in 5,398 deals.
This was against a total of 242.53 million shares worth N1.58 billion exchanged in 3,865 deals.
FCMB Group emerged the most traded stock with a total of 125.77 million shares worth N128.38 million transacted in 132 deals.
Zenith Bank followed with 58.19 million shares valued N657.10 million traded in 917 deals, while Transcorp accounted for 44.66 million shares worth N54.93 million in 284 deals.
GT Bank transacted 42.41 million shares worth N670.77 million in 746 deals, while FBN Holdings exchanged 36 million shares valued N156.28 million exchanged in 584 deals.
NAN