Nigerian Stock Market Opens 2018 Positive, Up by 0.06%

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

Transactions resumed on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) for the first time in 2018 on Tuesday and the market closed in the green territory.

This was mainly influenced by the huge buying pressures in the consumer goods stocks, which were enough to erase the losses recorded by the banking and oil shares.

At the close of business today, the Nigerian stocks increased marginally by 0.06 percent with the All-Share Index (ASI) growing by 21.6 points to settle at 38,264.79 points, while the market capitalisation rose by N7.7 billion to finish at N13.617 trillion.

Also, the market breadth ended positive on Tuesday as there were 27 price gainers compared with 12 price losers.

However, the volume and value of equities traded by investors depreciated today with 248.6 million shares worth N1.8 billion transacted in contrast to the 561.3 million valued at N6.9 billion exchanged last Friday, when activities last occurred at the market.

Business Post reports that when market closed on Tuesday, CAP Plc emerged the highest price gainer, increasing by N1.70k to close at N35.70k per share.

It was followed by NASCON, which went up by 72k to finish at N19.22k per share, and PZ Cussons, which advanced by 55k to end at N21.15k per share.

International Breweries grew today by 49k to close at N54.99k per share, while Dangote Sugar added 36k to its share value to settle at N20.36k per share.

On the flip side, Forte Oil topped the losers’ chart, depreciating by N1.48k to settle at N42 per share, while Unilever went down by 79k to finish at N40.21k per share.

Ecobank lost 73k to close at N16.27k per share, Stanbic IBTC declined by 60k to end at N40.90k per share, while Union Bank shed 29k to settle at N7.51k per share.