By Udeme Ekwere and Okechukwu Nnodim

Trading activities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange appreciated significantly on Thursday as the major indicators rose to a two-week high.

This was evident as most banking sub-sector stocks recorded marginal price appreciation compared to the previous day.

Analysts traced the development to the bond issuance by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria.

According to them, the fact that AMCON has started its activities is boosting investor

N1.20 and N8.98 per share respectively.

Thus, the NSE Banking Index increased by 0.9 per cent or 3.63 basis points from 386.32 to 389.95 basis points.

The market capitalisation of the listed equities rose by N44bn or 0.6 per cent to close at N7.907tn from N7.863bn, while the NSE’s All-Share Index gained 0.6 per cent or 137.94 to close at 24,746.88 points.

Meanwhile Diamond Bank Plc has announced a 29 per cent increase in its profit after tax in its results for the first quarter ended March 30, 2011.

A statement from the bank on Thursday, showed that its operating profit, which stood at N4.9bn in March 2010, rose by N1.4bn or 29 per cent to N6.3bn in the year under review.

The Group Managing Director, Diamond Bank, Mr. Alex Otti, was quoted as saying, “Diamond bank has remained profitable in the first quarter of 2011, our operating profit has grown by 28.6 per cent against last year’s Q1 levels on the back of growing revenues and a stable expense base.

“We have maintained our strong liquidity position and our risk asset quality continues to improve as our retail banking push continues, our customer base is growing with recurring monthly fee income improving.”

Source: Punch