January 9, 2018

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Tuesday crossed over 40,000 mark for the first time after October 2014 following sustained gains by blue chips.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the index closed higher at 40,362.97 compared with 39,849.65 posted on Monday, indicating an increase of 513.32 points or 1.29 per cent.

Similarly, the market capitalisation which opened at N14.181 trillion inched N182 billion or 1.28 per cent to close at N14.363 trillion.

Mallam Garba Kurfi , the Managing Director, APT Securities and Funds Ltd, linked the growth to investors renewed interest in the equities market ahead of 2017 earnings report.

Kurfi said that investors were taking position in the market in anticipation of positive results and enhanced dividends by companies for the financial year ended Dec. 31, 2017.

A breakdown of the price movement chart showed that Seplat led the gainers’ table during the day, appreciating by N10 to close at N660 per share.

Dangote Cement followed with a gain of N3.24 to close at N237.50, while Guinness increased N2 to close at N102 per share.

Conoil appreciated by N1.62 to close at N34.03, while Presco advanced by N1.50 to close at N68 per share.

On the contrary, Nestle led the laggards’ table with a loss of 50k to close at N1,450 per share.

GlaxosmithKline trailed with a loss of 30k to close at N21.80, while NAHCO depreciated by 21k to close at N4.29 per share.

Union Bank of Nigeria dropped by 20k to close at N7.50, while UAC Property shed 15k to close at N3.03 per share.

Also, the volume of shares transacted rose by 27.52 per cent, with 770.89 million shares valued at N7.89 billion traded in 7,395 deals.

NAN reports that this was against the 604.53 million shares worth N16.17 billion exchanged in 5,769 deals on Monday.

Diamond Bank was the toast of investors with 219.65 million shares worth N441.24 million.

Transcorp came second with a turnover of 138.92 million shares valued at N254.92 million, while FCMB Group traded 74.62 million shares worth N154.71 million.

Zenith International Bank exchanged 41.90 million shares valued at N1.23 billion, while Access Bank traded 41.12 million shares worth N455.18 million.