Amaka Ifeakandu
Nigeria’s equities market closed on a positive note on Friday, gaining N584 billion as the transactions in the shares of United Bank for Africa, GTCO Plc AccessCorp Zenith Bank and others lifted market activities.
Market capitalisation of listed equities increased by 1.68 per cent to N35.394 trillion from N34.810 trillion reported the previous day.
Also, the NGX All Share Index appreciated by 1072.69 basis points to 65,003.39 points from 63930.70 points recorded the previous day.
The market breath for the day was positive with 48 gainers as against 17 losers while the year to date gains stood at 26.83 per cent.
The NGX trading result showed that between Monday and Friday the market appreciated by N1.325 trillion representing 3.89 per cent to N35.394 trillion from N34.069 it opened for the week.
The NGX index also rose by 2433.66 basis points to 65003.39 points from 62569.73 points it closed last week Friday.
An analysis of the Investment on Friday showed that five companies from the financial services sector led the gainers table with a gain of 10 per cent.
GTCO Plc, Stanbic IBTC, Jaiz Bank appreciated by 10 per cent to close at N38.50 per share, N62.70 and N1.98 per unit respectively. Sterling Bank and Unity Bank also closed higher by 10 per cent to close at N3.96 and N1.65 per share respectively.
On the contrary, Academy Press recorded the highest loss, shedding 9.88 per cent to close at N2.19 per share, Abbey Building Society trailed with a drop of 9.68 per cent to N1.12 per share, Cornerstone Insurance dipped by 9.43 per cent to N0.96 per unit; NSL Tech 8.82 per cent to close at N0.31 per unit, while Guinness Nigeria Plc fell by 8.75 per cent to close at N73.00 per unit.
Further analysis showed that a total volume of 770.799 million units of shares valued at N14.264 billion was traded in 8915 deals during the day against 1.358 billion worth N18.066 billion exchanged hands the previous day in 7179 deals.
Transactions in the shares of United Bank for Africa led market activities with 111.209 million shares valued at N1.643 billion, AccessCorp followed with account of 88.034 million shares valued at N1.610 billion, Zenith Bank traded 73.351 million shares cost N2.584 billion, GTCO Plc exchanged 65.336 million shares worth N2.584 billion, while Fidelity Bank traded 57.093 million shares cost N445.536 million.