January 17, 2018

The price rally on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) continued on Wednesday with the market capitalisation hitting all-time of N16.080 trillion.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the market capitalisation, which opened at N15.782 trillion inched N298 billion or 1.89 per cent to close at N16.080 trillion.

Also, the All-Share Index rose by 830.52 points or 1.89 per cent to close at 44,885.24 compared with 44,054.72 achieved on Tuesday.

Mr Oscar Onyema, the NSE Chief Executive Officer, attributed the market growth to outstanding performance of 2017 which boosted investors’ confidence.

Onyema said that the foreign exchange exporter window introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in 2017 contributed to the market growth.

He said that the window had boosted the confidence of foreign investors, after months of testing with many of them now comfortable to bring in bigger funds.

Onyema added that the rise of crude oil at the international market contributed to the price rally as well as investors’ anticipation of improved performance from companies for the year ended Dec. 31, 2017.

NAN reports that major blue chips posted price growth with Mobil Oil leading the gainers’ table with N16.50 to close at N216 per share.

Dangote Cement came second with a gain of N13 to close at N273, while Guinness appreciated by N5.70 to close at N119.70 per share.

Betaglass added N2.69 to close at N56.56, while Conoil increased by N1.97 to close at N41.38 per share.

On the other hand, Nigerian Breweries led the losers’ chart, shedding N3.44 to close at N146.05 per share.

NASCON trailed with a loss of N1.10 to close at N21, while Zenith International Bank declined by N1.01 to close at N33.50 per share.

Cadbury depreciated by 80k to close at N15.31 while, Dangote Flour Mills dipped 39k to close at N15.95 per share.

Also, the volume of shares traded rose by 51.20 per cent as investors staked N12.52 billion on 960.75 million shares transacted in 8,866 deals.

This was against a turnover of 635.40 million shares valued at N7.64 billion traded in 7,331 deals.

Transcorp remained the most traded, accounting for 140.61 million shares worth N358.18 million.

Sterling Bank followed with 104.34 million shares valued at N252.49 million, while Wema Bank traded 95.46 million shares worth N88.79 million.

Diamond Bank sold 87.14 million shares valued at N275.15 million, while Access Bank exchanged 85.53 million shares worth N1.06 billion.