Equities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange generally posted their fifth consecutive daily gains on Thursday as leading stocks including Seplat, Dangote Cement and MTNN propelled the N325 billion upward drift.
Also contributing to the uptrend was increase in the share prices of NASCON and Ardova, which gained on the back of the positive sentiment created by Wednesday’s announcement of an expansion involving a planned takeover of Enyo Retail and Supply Limited.
A 5.32 per cent jump in the Insurance Index, best advancer of the bourse five sectorial indices, also bolstered gains.
According to reports, market breadth was significantly positive as 49 equities emerged compared to seven losers.
Edging up by 1.54 per cent, the All-Share Index (ASI) closed at 40,963.14 basis points. In the same vein, market capitalisation climbed to N21.419 trillion.
Year to date, the index is up by 1.72 per cent.
Top 5 Gainers
Champion Breweries led gainers, strengthened by potential takeover bid of its majority shareholder Heineken B.V., growing by 9.82 per cent to close at N1.23. NASCON gained 9.72 per cent to close at N17.50. Japaul Gold rose by 9.45 per cent to N1.39. Mansard leapt to N1.51, notching up 9.42 per cent in the process. Ardova completed the top 5, climbing up by 9.25 per cent to N21.85.
Top 5 Losers
Courtville topped the losers’ table, declining by 8.33 per cent to close at N0.22. Neimeth shrank by 6.36 per cent to end the day at N2.06. Union Diagnostic fell to N0.31, losing 3.12 per cent. Jaiz Bank dipped to N0.70, recording 2.78 per cent loss. John Holt closed at N0.50, going down by 1.96 per cent.
Top 5 Trades
Some 809.262 million shares worth N8.906 billion were traded today in 6,706 deals, a 72 per cent improvement over Wednesday’s volume.
Transcorp was the most preferred stocks on Thursday with 136.578 million units of its stocks worth N130.187 million traded in 232 deals. 70.591 million units of Mutual Benefits shares priced at N27.389 million exchanged hands in 124 transactions.
GTB had 68.993 million shares valued at N2.252 billion traded in 624 deals. WAPCO traded 61.852 million shares estimated at N1.424 billion in 355 transactions. FBN Holdings traded 44.534 million shares valued at N329.473 million in 285 deals.
