NSE is back! Market cap hits N12tn mark

By The Rainbow

The market capitalisation of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Thursday hit the N12 trillion mark, the highest achieved after the stock market crashed in 2008.

The market capitalisation grew by N211 billion or 1.77 per cent to close at N12.15 trillion from the N11.94 trillion achieved on Tuesday.

Market capitlaisation closed a little shy of N13 trillion mark at the height of the market boom in March 2009, before it crashed with dizzying velocity to around N6 trillion.

The All-Share Index also appreciated by 658.06 points or 1.77 per cent to reach 38,016.80 against the 37,358.74 posted on Tuesday due to huge appreciation by blue chip equities.

Nestle led the price gainers’ table by N98 to close at      N1, 088 per share.

It was trailed by Total with a gain of N5 to close at N165, while Nigerian Breweries gained N3.92 to close at N178 per share.

Flour Mills gained N2.50 to close at N87.50, while Cadbury chalked up N2.28 to close at N54.56 per share.

On the other hand, Guinness topped the losers’ chart with a loss of N3.40 to close at N275.61 per share.

PZ Cussons followed with a loss of N1 to close at N51, while NAHCO dipped by15k to close at N7.55 per share.

Dangote Sugar dropped 13k to close at N10.33, while Red Star Express decreased by 11k to close at N4.40 per share.

Unity Bank remained the toast of investors, accounting for 90.76 million shares worth N57.14 million.

Transcorp came second on the activity chart with 36.37 million shares valued at N47.12 million, while FCMB sold a total of 21.92 million shares worth N109.62 million.

In spite of the growth in the market capitalisation, the volume of shares traded dropped by 6.38 per cent.

A total of 400.24 million shares valued at N3.25 billion were sold in 5,970 deals in contrast to the 427.51 million shares worth N4.45 billion exchanged in 6,355 deals on Tuesday.

 
Mr Chike-Obi said he expected strong interest in the three banks from local and foreign institutions, pointing out that South Africa's leading bank, FirstRand, had informed AMCON of an interest in acquiring Keystone bank.

FirstRand CEO Sizwe Nxasana told Reuters last week that the South African lender was keen on buying either Keystone or Mainstreet.

Skye Bank is also expected to bid for one of the three banks, depending on valuations, its CEO Kehinde Durosimi-Etti told a shareholder meeting last week, where management sought approval to raise N50 billion.

AMCON said last week it expected to complete the sales by the third quarter of 2014.