NSE market capitalisation improves further

The Nigerian stock market on Tuesday sustained an upward trend with capitalisation appreciating further by N38 billion due to impressive third quarter results released by some companies.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the market capitalisation improved by N38 billion or 0.39 per cent to close at N9.629 trillion against N9.591 trillion posted on Monday.
Also, the All-Share Index rose by 109.32 points or 0.39 per cent to close higher at 28,034.32 compared with 27,925.00 achieved on Monday.
Market analysts attributed the development to investors’ positive sentiments for corporate news in the market.
They said that investors were reacting positively to improved earnings released by some companies this quarter in spite of the present economic downturn.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that some blue chips posted price appreciation which was led by Nestle with a gain of N25 to close at N825 per share.
Seplat followed with N17.50 to close at N367.51 and Presco gained N1.30 to close at N4.50 per share.
Zenith Bank chalked up 49k to close at N15.04, while Dangote Sugar grew by 15k to close at N6.50 per share.
On the other hand, Guinness led the laggards’ chart with a loss of N3.83 to close at N76 per share.
Lafarge Africa trailed with 91k to close at N48.09 and Flour Mills dropped 30k to close at N20.70 per share.
UACN shed 25k to close at N20.80, while FBN Holding was down by 10k to close at N3 per share.
Similarly, the volume of shares traded closed higher as investors staked N2.72 billion on 234.19 million shares transacted in 3,335 deals.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that this was against the 171.46 million shares worth N1.73 billion traded in 3,045 deals on Monday.
United Bank for Africa emerged the most traded, accounting for 83.06 million shares valued at N346.24 million.
Zenith Bank traded 18.93 million shares worth N282.46 million and GT Bank sold 12.72 million shares valued at N303.44 million.
FCMB Group exchanged 10.74 million shares worth N12.44 million, while Hallmark Insurance exchanged 10 million shares worth N5 million.