Stock market maintains bullish trend

Weekly equity transactions on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) reopened on bullish note  on Monday with some blue chips sustaining price rally.

Nestle led the gainers’ chart, gaining N45 to close at N1,100 per share.

Guinness came second on the gainers’ chart with N9.5 to close at N199.5, while Dangote Cement rose by N2 to close at N222 per share.

Nigerian Breweries grew by N1.26 to close at N177.26, while Forte Oil appreciated by N1.01 to close at N224 per share.

Consequently, the NSE All-Share index appreciated by 285.66 points or 0.70 per cent to close at 41,105.38 from the 40,819.72 achieved on Friday.

Also, the market capitalisation, which opened at N13.478 trillion, rose by N594 billion or 0.70 per cent to close at N13.572 trillion.

On the other hand, Mobil Oil topped the losers’ chart, dropping N3.96 to close at N172.04 per share.

Unilever followed with a loss of N2.3 to close at N46.9, while Ashaka Cement dipped by N1 to close at N32 per share.

Glaxosmith lost 59k to close at N64, while Updcreit lost 45k to close at N8.68 per share.

In all, a total of 274.021 million shares valued at N4.74 billion were exchanged in 4,567 deals.

This was against a turnover of 245.926 million shares worth N2.77 billion achieved in 3,806 deals on Friday.

Ikeja Hotels emerged the most traded stock, accounting for 46.48 million shares valued at N65.29 million.

FBN Holdings sold 37.26 million shares worth N515.58 million, while Transcorp accounted for 33.65 million shares valued at N192.34 million.

Zenith Bank traded 27.45 million shares worth N661.36 million, while investors in  GTBank staked N741.45 million on 24.91 million shares.