NGX closes positive with N157bn profit 

 The Nigerian equity market closed the week on a positive note on Friday, with investors gaining N157 billion.

Specifically, the Nigeria Exchange Ltd. (NGX) market capitalisation, which opened at N60.104 trillion, gained N157 billion or 0.26 per cent to close at N60.261 trillion.

The All-Share index also added 0.26 per cent or 259 points, to close at 99,448.91, against 99,189.95 reported on Thursday.

Consequently, the Year-To-Date (YTD) return increased to 33 per cent.

Demand for Aradel Holdings, United Bank For Africa(UBA), StanbicIBTC, FCMB, Unilever, among other advanced stocks, drove the market up.

Market breadth also closed positive with 40 gainers and 14 losers.

On the gainers’ table, CAP Plc and Livestock Feed led by 10 per cent each to close at N38.50 and N3.41 per share respectively.

Eunisell Ltd., gained 9.72 per cent to close at N3.50, May & Baker added 9.56 per cent to close at N7.45, while Royal Exchange increased by 9.23 per cent to close at 71k per share.

On the losers table, Daar Communications led by 9.86 per cent to close at 64k, and McNichols trailed by 5.10 per cent to close at N1.49 per share.

FTN Cocoa Processors decreased by 4.76 per cent to close at N1.80, Fidelity Bank dropped 2.72 per cent to close at N14.30, while Chams shed 2.44 per cent to close at N2 per share.

Analysis of the market activities showed that trade turnover settled lower relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions down by 39.38 per cent.

A total of 460.86 million shares valued at N9.53 billion were exchanged in 8,772 deals, compared with 400.91 million shares valued at N15.72 billion traded in 9,211 deals posted at the last session.

Chams led the activity chart in volume with 97.66 million shares, while UBA led in value of deals worth N2.61 billion.