NSE Halts Decline to Gain 0.17 Percent on Wednesday

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Wednesday halted four consecutive losses on the back of Nestle, Flour Mills, Cadbury, Access Bank and Zenith Bank’s attractiveness.

Activities of investors boosted the market capitalisation by N21.9 billion to N13.027 trillion on Wednesday while the NSE All-Share Index expanded by 0.17 percent to settle at 24,972.89 basis points.

A total of 265.964 million shares valued at N2.708 billion were exchanged in 3,564 deals by investors during the trading hours.

In terms of volume traded, Guaranty Trust Bank was the most traded stock with 43.674 million shares valued at N1.026 billion. This was followed by UACN’s 41.199 million shares worth N288.659 million. FBNH, FCMB and Access banks added 35.370 million, 22.543 million and 15.347 million shares valued at N178.136 million, N38.799 million and N104.467 million.

Accordingly, Nestle led the top gainers’ table with 10 percent to close at N1094.5 per share. Cadbury followed with 6.67 percent to settle at N8 per share. Flour Mill, Access Bank and Zenith bank gained 4.35 percent, 1.48 percent and 0.31 percent to close at N20.4, N6.85 and N16.15 per share, respectively.

On the other hand, Seplat led losers with a 9.99 percent decline to close at N428.8 per share. Guaranty Trust Bank lost 2.54 percent to settle at N23 per share. Dangote Sugar, Fidson and Neimeth declined by 2.03 percent, 6.34 percent and 9.57 percent to close at N14.5 per share, N3.4 per share and N1.89 per share, respectively.

The bourse rebounded despite Nigeria’s inflation rate rising to 12.40 percent in May, further highlighting the nation’s precarious situation amid COVID-19 disruption.