Major stock prices closed high on Friday following the commencement of market making activities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

Specifically, Nigerian Breweries, a stock quoted on the Consumer Goods segment of the Daily Official List hit an all-time high of N145 per share.

The share rose by 6.23 per cent or N8.20 to close at N145 per share, and has gained about 45 per cent this year alone.

Other shares which recorded significant gains on Thursday included Fidson Healthcare Plc which gained 9.3 per cent or 12 kobo to close at N1.41 per share; Guaranty Trust Bank Plc which gained 1.57 per cent or 30 kobo to close at N19.40, also UACN Plc gained 1.79 per cent or 75 kobo to close at N42.75 per share.

At the close of equity trading on Thursday, the NSE All-Share Index rose by 0.91 per cent or 232.92 basis points to 25,875.31 points up from 25,642.39 points the preceding day.

Similarly, the market capitalisation of the listed equities gained N76tn or 0.9 per cent from N8.163tn on Wednesday, to N8.239tn. The market value has risen for its fourth consecutive day so far.

The market indicators have recorded a year-to-date value of 23.69 per cent, owing to the market making activities as well as stronger currency, and analysts said that this had made the  NSE become Africa’s third best performing index, according to the MSCI equity indices.

Market making activities commenced officially on the Nigerian Stock Exchange on Tuesday, beginning with 16 selected quoted companies, just as the NSE increased the daily price limit for the selected stocks’ movement from the usual five per cent to 10 per cent.

Some of the companies selected by the 10 market makers to act in the pilot scheme included PZ Cussons Plc, Presco Plc, International Breweries Plc, Lafarge WAPCO Cement Plc, Fidson Healthcare Plc, Red Star Plc, DN Meyer Plc, Diamond Bank Plc, Fidelity Bank Plc, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc and UAC of Nigeria Plc

The move to introduce market making into the Nigerian equities market was embarked upon last year as one of the major strategies aimed at increasing investor confidence, deepening the market and addressing the lack of liquidity in the market.

A market maker is a brokerage firm or bank that maintains a firm bid and asking price in a given security by standing ready, willing, and able to buy or sell at publicly quoted prices.

Activities of the market makers helped to firm the bullish trend on Tuesday as equity trading activities remained positive.

The Chief Executive Officer of the NSE, Mr. Oscar Onyema, had explained that market making would go a long way to boost activities in the equities market, adding that investors were in for good times.

Source: Punch/Udeme Ekwere