Transactions on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, rebounded on Thursday, February 1. returning to the north after major sell-offs recorded on Wednesday.
Consequently, the All Share Index surged by 0.26 percent or by 116.53 points to finish at 44,460.18 points, pushing the year-to-date return forward to 16.26 percent. Similarly, Market Capitalisation leaped by N59 billion to settle at N15.955 trillion.
However, the market breadth closed negative despite the spike in lead market indices with 22 price gainers and 34 price losers.
Leading the advancers’ pack was Dangote Cement soaring by N5 to close at N275 per share. It was trailed by Unilever, which increased by N2.25k to end at N46.75k per share, and CCNN, which advanced by 85k to finish at N18.60k per share.
Dangote Flour soared by 30k to settle at N16.80k per share, while Okomu Oil leaped by 30k to close at N72.40k per share.
Conversely, International Breweries sat atop the laggards’ chart, dropping N2.90k to settle at N57.95k per share. It was followed by UAC of Nigeria, which depreciated by 70k to close at N17 per share, and Lafarge, which crashed by 45k to end at N54.50k per share.
Dangote Sugar slumped by 40k to finish at N20.60k per share, while FBN Holdings fell by 35k to close at N13.60k per share.
The Financial Services sector led the activity chart with 468.3 million shares exchanged for N2.2 billion, while the Conglomerates industry followed with 107.9 million shares traded for N290 million.
Transcorp was the most active stock by volume, trading a total of 105.2 million units worth N244.8 million.It was followed by Skye Bank, which sold 95.2 million shares valued at N139 million, and Diamond Bank, which transacted 77.3 million equities for N238.7 million.
Wapic traded 72.8 million shares for N54.7 million, while FCMB transacted 64.4 million equities worth N192 million.
At the close of trading, volume and value of shares transacted by investors dropped by 3.27 percent 55.66 percent respectively despite the gains recorded by the bourse’s benchmark indices.
Also, total of 630.6 million equities worth N3.4 billion were exchanged in contrast to 651.9 million shares valued at N7.8 billion exchanged yesterday at the stock market.
