Major blue chips record growth on NSE

Major blue chips have recorded price appreciation on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Wednesday, lifting the market indices by 1.05 per cent.

The market indicators sustained a positive growth for the second consecutive day.

An analysis of the price movement table indicated that Nestle recorded the highest gain, leading the gainers’ chart by N24.94 to close at N825.05 per share.

It was trailed by Nigerian Breweries with a gain of N3 to close at N248, while  Guaranty Trust Bank gained N1.20 to close at N30.70 per share.

Oando garnered 77k to close at N8.55, while Glaxosmithkline increased by 73k to close at N15.43 per share.

Consequently, the market capitalisation inched N100 billion or 1.05 per cent to close at N9.644 trillion, against the N9.544 trillion achieved on Tuesday.

Also, the All-Share Index improved by 290.77 points or 1.05 per cent to close at 27,900.44, as against the 27,609.67 posted at the close of business on Tuesday.

On the other hand, Stanbic IBTC topped the losers’ table with a loss of 50k, to close at N26 per share.

Union Bank of Nigeria followed with a loss of 15k to close at N5, and Zenith International Bank shed 10k to close at N17.10 per share.

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International Breweries also lost 10k to close at N20.90, while United Bank for Africa declined by 10k to close at N6.50 per share.

However, the volume of shares transacted dropped by 34.74 per cent, with a total of 371.46 million shares valued at N3.49 billion exchanged in 3,910 deals.

This is against the 569.18 million shares worth N6.68 billion traded in 4,632 deals on Tuesday.

The banking stocks were the toast of investors, with Access Bank emerging the most active in volume terms, accounting for 96.01 million shares valued at N695.34 million.

Guaranty Trust Bank followed with 31.34 million shares worth N945.27 million and Law, Union and Rock Insurance traded 30.20 million valued at N24.17 million.

United Bank for Africa exchanged 25.67 million shares worth N166.69 million, while FBN Holdings sold 19.55 million shares valued at N77.18 million.