Market capitalisation improves by N25bn

TRADING on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) remained on the upbeat on the last working day of last week with the market capitalisation appreciating further by N25 billion or 0.26 per cent to close at N9.500 trillion against the N9.475 trillion posted on Thursday the previous day.
In the same vein, the All-Share Index, which opened at 27,559.18, rose by 71.87 points or 0.26 per cent to close at 27,631.05.  Nestle which led the gainers’ table, grew by N18 to close at N825 per share, followed by byOkomu Oil with a gain of N2.75 to close at N29.65, while Lafarge Wapco improved by N1.39 to close at N92 per share.Dangote Cement grew by N1.05 to close at N161.05, while PZ gained N1 to close at N27 per share.
On the loser’ chart  are  Unilever who topped , dropping N2.16 to close at N41.82 per share; followed by Guinness with a loss of N1.78 to close at N122.02, while Nigerian Breweries shed N1 to close at N119 per share.CAP declined by 35k to close at N37, while BOC Gas depreciated by 19k to close at N3.79 per share.
However, GTBank was investors’ delight, accounting for 25.94 million shares valued at N518.74 million and traded in 322 deals. Access Bank followed with 10.89 million shares worth N54.54 million achieved in 105 deals, while ETI sold 9.39 million valued at N156.07 million in 49 deals. Zenith Bank traded 8.47 million shares worth N135.98 million exchanged in 217 deals, while Transcorp exchanged 6.96 million shares valued N11.49 million in 93 deals.
In all, investors staked N1.69 billion on 112.32 million shares in 2,317 deals as against the 249.09 million shares worth N3.07 billion achieved in 2,524 deals the previous day.