Nigerian equities continued to rise on Thursday, with the major equity index rising by more than 2% or N517.8 billion, one of the market’s biggest daily gains in months. The turnover increased over the previous session by as much as 154%.
Even though transaction volume was over a third smaller, the jump was primarily driven by increased buy interest in the shares of two telecom giants, MTN Nigeria and Airtel Africa.
Despite the Central Bank of Nigeria’s raising of the benchmark interest rate, a move that occasionally results in a decline in the value of stocks, trade has been mainly bullish this week.
A favorable market breadth was seen as trade finished with 18 equities rising vs 8 declining.
The market capitalization increased to N25.9 trillion, scaling up the all-share index by 949.4 basis points to 47,554.3. The index has increased by 11.3% so far this year.
BEST FIVE GAINERS
Red Star Express, which increased by 9.7% to N2.3, was the most lucrative stock led. Regency Alliance increased by 8.7% to N0.25.
Livestock increased by 8.2 percent to N1.06. Prestige increased 7.5% to close the market at N0.43. The last place finisher, Airtel, increased 7.4% to N1,450.
BEST FIVE LOSERS
The worst-performing stock was Capital Hotel, which fell 10% to settle at N3.06. To close at N963.9, Nestle lost 10%.
International Breweries lost 2.3% and hit N4.30. GTCO decreased to N20, registering a 1.5% depreciation. Wema Bank decreased by 0.97 percent as it finished at N3.07.
TOP 5 TRADERS
There were 2,780 transactions totaling 99 million shares valued at N5.5 billion. The most active stock was FCMB, which saw 42 transactions totaling 16.8 million shares for N54.8 million. In 150 trades, 16.4 million MTN Nigeria shares worth N3.3 billion changed hands.
65 transactions involving 7.5 million shares of Fidelity Bank for N30.9 million were completed. In 210 transactions, Zenith Bank exchanged 6.4 million shares worth an estimated N139.4 million. In 106 transactions, Access Bank exchanged 5.8 million shares worth N49.7 million.
