Stock market sustains uptrend, investors gain N344bn

The Nigerian Stock Exchange on Wednesday maintained its uptrend of gains, extending positive sentiment to five consecutive trading sessions, with a gain of N343.96bn.

The market breadth closed on a positive note, recording 28 gainers as against 11 losers.

Consequently, the All-Share Index grew by 659.99 basis points or 3.02 per cent from 21,879.95 index points the previous day to 22,539.94 while the market capitalisation of equities appreciated by N344bn to close at N11.746tn from N11.402tn.

On the activity chart, premium subsector dominated in volume terms with 183.46 million shares exchanged in 2,404 deals. The subsector was enhanced by the activities in the shares of FBNH Plc and Zenith Bank Plc.

Banking subsector boosted by the activities in the shares of GTBank Plc and Fidelity Bank Plc followed with 65.17 million units traded in 910 deals.

In all, investors exchanged a total of 326.44 million shares exchanged in 5,166 deals.

Champion Breweries Plc, Dangote Cement Plc, Neimeth Pharmaceuticals Plc led the gainers with 10 per cent each to close at 88 kobo, N133.10, 55 kobo per share respectively. Oando Plc followed with 9.85 per cent to close at N2.90 per share and Nigerian Breweries Plc with a gain of 9.84 per cent to close at N26.80 per share.

On the flip side, ARBICO Nigeria Plc led the losers’ chart with a drop of 9.82 per cent to close at N2.57 per share. Wema Bank Plc followed with a loss of 9.68 per cent to close at 56 kobo per share while Cutix Plc dropped by 9.09 per cent to close at N1.20 per share.