Naira maintains stability as NSE market capitalization heads north

The Naira on Tuesday, November, 28, maintained N362.5 to the dollar at the parallel market. The Pound Sterling and the Euro closed at N480 and N430.

At the Bureau De Change window, the Nigerian currency was sold at N362 to the dollar, while the Pound Sterling and the Euro traded at N480 and N430.

Trading at the investors’ window saw the Naira closed at N360.37 to the dollar, while it closed at N305.80, N408.18 and N365.03 against the Dollar, Pound Sterling and the Euro at the CBN window.

The relative stability of the Naira against the Dollar had impacted positively on price stability of most goods in the market.

The hitherto volatility in the prices of goods and services that greeted the fluctuation in the Naira rates before the intervention of the CBN in February had fast disappeared.

While some experts commended the CBN’s injection of liquidity to the foreign exchange market, others clamoured for productive economy to increase the chances of the nation’s ability to earn in dollars.

Meanwhile market capitalisation on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Tuesday, November, 28, increased by N89 billion amid gains recorded by some highly capitalised equities.

The market capitalisation which opened at N12.97 trillion rose by N89 billion or 0.69 per cent to close at N13.06 trillion.

Also, All-Share Index increased by 252.95 points or 0.68 per cent to close at 37, 503.73 points compared with 37, 250.78 points achieved on Monday.

An analysis of the price movement table showed that Nigerian Breweries recorded the highest price gain of N6.43 to lead the gainers’ table, and closed at N137.60 per share.

Stanbic IBTC garnered N1.85 to close at N41.85, while Dangote Cement rose by N1 to close at N241 per share.

Cement Company of Northern Nigeria appreciated by 43k to close at N9.40, while Global Spectrum Energy Services improved by 26k to close at N5.51 per share.

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On the other hand, Mobil Oil topped the losers’ chart with a loss of N5.40 to close at N162.50 per share.

Guinness came second with a loss of N1.42 to close at N98.58, while PZ dipped N1.15 to close at N22.72 per share. Okomu Oil lost 78k to close at N67.22, while Dangote Sugar dropped 26k to close at N17.55 per share.

It was also reported that the volume of shares traded closed higher as investors bought and sold 1.10 billion shares worth N4.80 billion, transacted in 4,089 deals.

This was in contrast with a total of 942.72 million shares valued at N4.78 billion exchanged in 3,868 deals on Monday, November, 27.

Wapic Insurance emerged the most active stock, accounting for 655.35 million shares worth N327.67 million.

Diamond Bank accounted for 68.21 million valued at N80.33 million, while Zenith Bank traded 62.74 million shares worth N1.56 billion.

FBN Holdings exchanged 49.88 million shares valued at N346.49 million, while Tantalizers sold 43.02 million shares worth N21.51 million.