NSE Index Surges By 0.99% As Trading Moves Farther North

Trading activities on the floor of  Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, continued to move northward on Thursday, May 19, as the All-Share Index which opened at 26,763.83 jumped by 264.41 points or 0.99 per cent to close at 27,028.24, amid gains by blue chips.

The upturn was largely buoyed by capital appreciation recorded by GT Bank, Zenith Bank, Lafarge Africa, Flour Mills, Selpat, UACN and Nestle, NAN reports

Nestle led the gainers’ table, growing by N7.50 to close at N732.50 per share. Seplat came second with a gain of N5 to close at N355, while Lafarge increased by N2.50 to close at N76 per share. Guaranty Trust Bank leaped by N1.43 to close at N20.97, while Julius Berger advanced by N1.29 to close at N45 per share.

Conversely, Guinness topped the losers’ chart, dropping by N3.90 to close at N95.10 per share. Nigerian Breweries trailed with a loss of N2 to close at N125.50, while Unilever Nigeria dipped N1.60 to close at N30.41 per share. NCR depreciated by N1.01 to close at N9.46 and Union Homes savings and Loans shed 33k to close at N3.17 per share.

At the end of trading, investors bought and sold 498.78 million shares valued at N2.73 billion traded in 4,765 deals. This was in contrast to a turnover of 670.80 million shares worth N2.06 billion exchanged in 3,976 deals on Wednesday.

Diamond Bank was the toast of investors, exchanging 99.69 million shares valued at N174.28 million.

FBN Holdings followed with an account of 73.68 million shares worth N269.04 million, while Continental Insurance traded 44.96 million shares valued at N46.32 million. Zenith Bank sold 36.76 million shares worth N604.34 million, while Transcorp exchanged 36.44 million shares worth N41.91 million.