THURSDAY, 16 DECEMBER 2010 00:00 BY HELEN OJI AND FEMI ADEKOYA

EQUITIES trading on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), yesterday, continued on a bullish note as corporate performance indicators rose by 0.84 per cent.

At the close of transactions yesterday, the market capitalisation of listed equities rose by N65 billion from N7.765 trillion on Tuesday to N7.83 trillion, while the All-Share Index closed higher at 24,511.04 points, up from 24,306.83 points on Tuesday.

However, the volume of traded equities plunged compared to the previous day’s volume. With transactions done in 4,942 deals, investors exchanged 257.4 million shares worth N2.38 billion, down from 318.6 million shares valued at N2.15 billion traded in the previous day.

On the day’s price movement chart, Lafarge WAPCO Plc led the day’s price gainers with 194 kobo to close at N40.94 per share, followed by Nigerian Bottling Company Plc with 157 kobo to close at N33.10 per share, while Dangote Cement Plc added 150 kobo to close at N124.50 per share.

On the other hand, Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc topped the day’s price losers’ chart with a loss of 388 kobo to close at N141 per share, followed by Chevron Oil Nigeria Plc with 368 kobo to close at N70.06 per share, while Northern Nigeria Flour Mills Plc shed 209 kobo to close at N39.88 per share.

Accounting for the bulk of the day’s transactions, the banking sub-sector was the most active in volume terms, trading 195.7 million shares worth N1.57 billion, followed by the insurance sub-sector with 16.2 million shares valued at N14.1 million, while the mortgage companies’ sub-sector exchanged 12.4 million shares worth N6.4 million.

Further analysis of activities in the sub-sectors showed that the volume in the banking sub-sector was buoyed by 28.1 million shares of Access Bank Plc, worth N259.7 million, followed by First Bank of Nigeria Plc, with 27.2 million shares valued at N350.9 million, while GTBank Plc traded 22.6 million shares worth N391.8 million.

In the insurance sub-sector, the volume was energised by a combined eight million shares of Oasis Insurance Plc, AIICO Insurance Plc and Continental Reinsurance Plc, while the volume in the mortgage sub-sector was boosted by 11.86 million shares of Resort Savings and Loans Plc, worth N5.93 million.

 

Source: Guardian