Capital trading appreciates by 0.84%

Market indices of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Friday improved by 0.84 per cent amid interim dividend declared by some quoted companies.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the All-Share Index appreciated by 229.33 points or 0.84 per cent to close at 27,650.32 points compared with 27.420.99 achieved on Thursday.

Similarly, the market capitalisation which opened at N9.42 trillion rose by N78 billion to close at N9.50 trillion.

Mr Ambrose Omordion, the Chief Operating Officer, InvestData Ltd, attributed the positive market performance to interim dividends declared by some quoted companies and impressive second quarter results.

Omordion said that consistency demonstrated by interim dividend-paying companies in spite of the challenging business environment and huge provision for bad loans, boosted investors

He said that low prices of equities contributed to the market growth, but added that sustainability of the current trend was very slim due to poor liquidity.

7UP recorded the highest price gain to lead the gainers’ chart, growing by N5.45 to close at N114.45 per share.

Nigerian Breweries followed with N3.38 up-lift to close at N138.01 per share and Guinness garnered N3.01 to close at N93 per share.

Unilever increased by N1.83 to close at N38.58 per share, while UACN chalked up 89k to close at N19.90 per share.

Conversely, Mobil topped the laggards’ table with a loss of N5.29 to close at N162.65 per share.

Total dipped N5 to close at N244 per share and MRS dropped N1.92 to close at N36.65 per share.

Forte Oil decreased by N1.20 to close at N160.10 per share, while International Breweries lost 61k to close at N18.39 per share.

NAN also reports that investors bought and sold 314.60 million shares worth N2.77 billion.

This was against the 313.28 million shares valued at N3.60 billion exchanged in 2,883 deals on Thursday.

An analysis of the activity chart showed that FBN Holdings was the most active with a total of 66.88 million shares worth N209.17 million.

GT Bank came second with an exchange of 50.58 million shares valued at N1.27 billion and Access Bank sold 38.82 million shares worth N216.24 million.

Transcorp traded 23.53 million shares valued at N24.34 million and UBA transacted 22.14 million shares worth N98.97 million.