GTbank, Zenith Bank shares gain as NSE Market Cap hits N208bn

Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) main share index ended up 1.66 percent at 36,920 points after bargain hunters returned to take positions in Guaranty Trust Bank and Zenith Bank, two top lenders shunned early in the week over a disappointing interim dividend payout.

GTbank shares rose 6.47 percent to close at 39.50 naira, while Zenith Bank gained 6.61 percent to close at 24.53 naira.

Market capitalization which opened trading with N12.52 trillion also rose by N208 billion or 1.66 per cent to close at N12.73 trillion.

Market watchers attributed the development to investors’ repositioning ahead of release of Access Bank and United Bank for Africa (UBA) 2017 half year results.

They said that the repositioning sustained the volatility witnessed in the market in the last couple of days.

Conversely, Okomu Oil Palm recorded the highest loss at the trading, dropping by N3.63 to close at N69.09 per share.

Nigerian Breweries trailed with a loss of N2.98 to close at N181.07 and Cadbury was down by 63k to close at N12.07 per share.

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UACN declined by 60k to close at N16 per share, and CCNN lost 45k to close at N9.22 per share.

Also, the volume of shares traded closed higher as investors traded a total of 236.62 million shares valued at N4.81 billion in 3,803 deals.

This was in contrast with a turnover of 225.14 million shares worth N5.48 billion traded in 5,110 deals on Thursday.

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Zenith International Bank was most active, trading 61.85 million shares valued at N1.47 billion.

UBA followed with an account of 40.41 million shares worth N380.68 million and GT Bank traded 32.51 million shares valued at N1.26 billion.

Fidelity Bank sold 12.38 million shares worth N16.04 million, while FBN Holdings exchanged 11.74 million shares valued N70.10 million.

The market had rallied for eight consecutive weeks and peaked at a 33-month high last week before profit takers took advantage of the gains.

Other gainers include Dangote Cement, which accounts for a third of the market capitalisation. The cement firm was up 2.37 percent to close at 225 naira, FCMB Group rose 5.36 percent, PZ Cussons gained 4.99 percent while energy company Oando rose 3.94 percent.