WorldStage Newsonline– Nigerian Stock Exchange extended bullish posture on Wednesday with the market capitalisation increasing further by N214 billion on sustained bargain hunting of blue chips.
Specifically. the market capitalisation which opened at N20.446 trillion rose by N214 billion to close at N20.660 trillion supported by interestes in BUA Cement.
Also, the All-Share Index appreciated by 402.14 points or 1.03 per cent to close at 39,512.31 from 39,110.17 achieved on Tuesday.
Accordingly, month-to-date and year-to-date gain increased to 12.8 per cent and 47.2 per cent, respectively.
The uptrend was also driven by price appreciation in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; BUA Cement, International Breweries, Eterna, C & I Leasing and NEM Insurance.
The market breadth closed positive with 24 gainers in contrast with 19 stocks losers.
Eterna, International Breweries and BUA Cement led the gainers’ chart in percentage terms, gaining 10 per cent each to close at N5.61, 59k and N70.40 per share, respectively.
C & I Leasing followed with 9.74 per cent to close at N4.73, while Japaul Gold and Ventures went up by 9.62 per cent to close at 57k per share.
On the other hand, FTN Cocoa Processors dominated the losers’ chart in percentage terms, losing 9.88 per cent to close at 73k per share.
Deap Capital Management & Trust followed with 7.41 per cent to close at 25k, while Honeywell Flour Mill declined by 6.77 per cent to close at N1.27 per share.
Flour Mills lost 5.45 per cent to close at N26, while Union Bank of Nigeria shed 5.36 per cent to close at N5.30 per share.Meanwhile, the total volume of shares traded declined by 48.39 per cent with a total of 372.93 million shares worth N11.50 billion in 5,186 deals.This was against a turnover of 722.57 billion shares valued at N4.38 billion exchanged in 5,042 deals on Tuesday.Transactions in the shares of United Bank for Africa topped the activity chart with 60.57 million shares worth N524.73 million.Dangote Cement trailed with 33.17 million shares valued at N8.04 billion, while Zenith Bank traded 27.54 million shares worth N690.85 million.Access Bank sold 24.45 million shares valued at N215.02 million, while Transcorp transacted 20.98 million shares worth N19.21 million.
