Nse Market Cap Adds N47b, As Naira Holds Firm At N321 To Dollar At Parallel Market

Source: thewillnigeria.com

BEVERLY HILLS, May 06, (THEWILL) – Activities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Friday ended positively the market capitalisation adding N47 billion to close at N8.84 trillion compared with N8.79 trillion recorded on Thursday.

Similarly, the All-Share Index improved by 137.81 points or 0.54 per cent, after declining for two consecutive days, to close at 25,701.60 against 25,563.79 achieved on Thursday.

A cursory analysis of the activities on the trading floor indicates that Forte Oil led the gainers’ chart, growing by N20.44 to close at N219.92 per share.

Mobil Nigeria followed with a gain of N7.29 to close at N155.09, while Flour Mills Nigeria gained N1.83 to close at N22.34 per share.

Guinness appreciated by N1 to close at N95, while Cadbury increased by 78k to close at N16.46 per share.

On the other hand, PZ topped the losers’ chart, dropping 68k to close at N20.62 per share.

Nigerian Breweries trailed with a loss of 24k to close at N115.08, while Ecobank Transnational Incorporated lost 20k to close at N14.50 per share.

Dangote Sugar Refinery shed 11k to close at N5.79 and Portland Paint also declined by 11k to close at N2.17 per share.

FBN Holdings remained the most active, accounting for 30.73 million shares worth N107.99 million.

Transcorp followed with an exchange of 20.07 million shares valued at N20.66 million, while Zenith Bank sold 14.22 million shares worth N185.69 million.

Guaranty Trust Bank traded 11.19 million shares valued at N194.04 million and Access Bank traded 9.69 million shares worth N40.61 million.

In all, investors traded a total of 181.11 million shares valued at N1.17 billion as against 178.87 million shares worth N1.48 billion exchanged on Thursday.

Meanwhile, The Naira remained stable on Friday and has traded at N321 to the dollar for almost a week at the parallel market.

However, the Pound Sterling and the Euro exchanged at N467 and N365 respectively.

Traders attributed the stability in the price of the Naira to activities of currency hoarders who anticipated a new policy direction in anticipation of the passage of the 2016 budget.

Story by David Oputah