Stock Market Closes Strong as Economic Plan Launched

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) was on Wednesday dominated by bulls, leaving the market to close positive for the first time this week, Business Post reports.

The market breadth also finished positive with 23 stocks appreciating in price in contrast to 14 that depreciated.

The good performance of Mobil lifted the All-Share Index to a rise of 205.54 points or 0.81 percent to end at 25,471.69 points, while the market capitalisation rose to N8.814 trillion after gaining N71.12 billion and the year-to-date return finishing at -5.22 percent.

Investors, at the end of trading today, transacted a total of 158.7 million shares worth N1.13 billion in 3,048 deals dominated by the financial services sector.

Mobil topped the gainers’ chart on Wednesday after rising by N32.28k to close at N347.28k per share, while 7up advanced by N8.89k to end at N95.89k per share.

Lafarge appreciated by N4.42k to finish at N47.62k per share, Forte Oil rose by N1 to close at N46 per share and Oando gained 53k to end at N5.78k per share.

On the losers’ table, PZ topped the log with a loss of 72k to finish at N13.87k per share and Ecobank trailed going down by 39k to close at N8.5k per share.

Nigerian Breweries declined by 20k to end at N124.80k per share, UACN fell by 11k to finish at N15.1k per share and Trans-Nationwide Express Plc slumped by 8k to close at 91k per share.

Today’s gain showed that the market reacted positively to the formal launch of the economic recovery plan by President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja.

The government is targeting a GDP growth of 7 percent by the year 2020.