Stock Market Adds N56bn, Closes For Easter Break

SAN FRANCISCO, March 24, (THEWILL) – The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Thursday, closed for the Easter celebrations on a positive note as the market capitalisation added N56 billion or 0.63 per cent to close at N8.909 trillion compared with N8.853 trillion achieved on Wednesday.

Similarly, the all-share index which opened at 25,736.92 grew by 162.99 points or 0.63 per cent to close at 25,899.91.

An analysis of the price movement table by NAN indicated that Nigerian Breweries led the gainers' table, growing by N4.09 to close at N117.70 per share.

International Breweries followed with N1.74 to close at N18.80, while Mobil Oil gained N1.09 to close at N156 per share.

PZ Industries appreciated by N1.08 to close at N22.79 and Ecobank Transnational garnered 49k to close at N14.74 per share.

Meanwhile, Seplat topped the losers' chart, dropping by N8 to close at N300 per share.

Total came second with N2.45 to close at N140.01 and Cadbury lost 76k to close at N14.77 per share.

Nestle lost 55k to close at N700 and National Salt Company of Nigeria shed 34k to close at N6.52 per share.

Zenith Bank drove the volume of shares traded, accounting for 89.39 million shares worth N1.13 billion.

GT Bank followed with an exchange of 79.89 million shares valued at N1.28 billion and Transcorp traded 49.43 million shares worth N60.31 million.

FCMB Group sold 34.94 million shares valued at N26.76 million and United Capital traded 28.01 million shares worth N56.39 million.

A total of 397.05 million shares valued at N3.28 billion were exchanged by investors in 3,742 deals.

This was against the 398.28 million shares worth N2.65 billion transacted in 3,581 deals on Wednesday.

The market will remain closed till March 29 due to public holidays declared by the federal government to mark Easter.