By Chris Ndibe
The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) opened trading with a marginal growth of 0.05 per cent following buying interest in Dangote Cement and 16 other equities.
Speficially, the NSE All-Share Index grew by 13.64 points or 0.05 per cent to close at 25,605.59 from 25,591.95 recorded on Friday.
Also, the market capitalisation which opened the week at N13.350 trillion improved by N8 billion to close at N13.358 trillion.
The upturn was impacted by gains recorded in large and medium capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Chemical and Allied Products, Dangote Cement, Lafarge Africa, Neimeth and Guaranty Trust Bank.
The market breadth closed positive with 17 gainers against 16 losers.
Neimeth led the gainers’ chart in percentage terms, gaining 9.55 per cent to close at N1.95 per share.
Royal Exchange came second with 7.14 per cent to close at 30k, while Consolidated Hallmark rose by 6.90 per cent to close at 31k per share.
CAP went up by 6.67 per cent to close at N16.80, while Regency Alliance Insurance appreciated by 4.35 per cent to close at 24k per share.
Conversely, International Breweries led the losers’ chart in percentage terms, declining by 8.57 per cent to close at N3.50 per share.
UACN Property Development followed with a loss of 8.42 per cent to close at 87k, while FCMB Group dropped 7.73 per cent to close at N2.03 per share.
Fidson lost 5.41 per cent to close at N3.50, while Japaul Oil dipped 4.76 per cent to close at 20k per share.
Also, the volume of shares transacted rose by 20.82 per cent with an exchange of 257.03 million shares valued at N3.32 billion in 3,567 deals.
This was in contrast with a total of 212.73 million shares worth N2.28 billion exchanged in 3,239 deals on Friday.
Transactions in the shares of Custodian Investment topped the activity chart with 49.27 million shares valued at N236.49 million.
Guaranty Trust Bank sold 29.56 million shares worth N739.21 million, while Lafarge Africa traded 23.58 million shares valued at N306.38 million.
FBN Holdings accounted for 19.63 million shares worth N100.12 million, while Access Bank transacted 16.38 million shares valued at N110.65 million.
