Stock market closes positive, index gains 0.17%

Trading on the Nigerian bourse closed positive on Friday with the All-Share Index (ASI) increasing by 0.17per cent to close at 52,908.24 from 52,815.78 on Thursday.

Similarly, market capitalisation increased by N49 billion to N28.523 trillion from N28.474 trillion recorded on Thursday.

The Year-to-Date (YTD) returns increased to 23.86 per cent.

The market breadth closed positive as 22 stocks advanced against 16 stocks that declined.

NEM Insurance recorded the highest price gain of 9.95 per cent to close at N4.20 per share.

Chams followed with a gain of 9.09 per cent to close at 24kobo per share, while Champion Breweries rose by 8.06 per cent to close at N3.89 per share.

Nigerian Breweries rose by 7.06 per cent to close at N63.70 while Eterna Oil gained 6.65 per cent to close at N7.70 per share.

On the other hand, UPDC Real Estate Investment Trust (UPDCreit) led the losers’ chart by 9.33 per cent to close at N3.40 per share.

WAPIC declined by 4.55 per cent to close at 42k while UACN depreciated by 4.35 per cent to close at N11 per share.

Caverton followed with a decline of 3.36 per cent to close at N1.15 per share, while International Breweries led lost 3.33 per cent to close at N7.25 per share.

Meanwhile, shares of UACN led the volume chart with 73.89 million shares valued at N812.9 million.

First Bank Nigeria Holdings (FBNH)  followed with 53.13 million shares worth N596.76 million, while Transcorp traded 43.91 million shares valued at N56.36 million.

UPDCreit traded 12.42 million shares valued at N43.38 million, while Zenith Bank transacted 9.76 million shares worth N228.47 million.

The total volume traded increased by 3.11 per cent  to 282.97 million units, valued at NGN3.37 billion exchanged in 4,245 deals.