Trading activities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) closed green on Thursday for the third consecutive day with Nestle Nigeria leading the gainers’ chart.
Nestlé garnered N9.95 to close at N835 per share, thereby lifting the market indicators by 0.72 per cent.
Total followed with a gain of N5 to close at N270 and Seplat gained N4.20 to close at N350 per share.
Guaranty Trust Bank advanced by 90k to close at N31.60, while Zenith International Bank grew by 87k to close at N17.97 per share.
As a result, the market capitalisation which opened at N9.644 trillion rose by N70 billion to close at N9.714 trillion.
The All-Share Index inched 201.19 points or 0.72 per cent to close at 28,101.63 compared to 27,900.44 recorded on Wednesday.
Market analysts attributed the sustained growth to improved first quarter earnings released by some companies, lower inflation rate, enhanced foreign exchange liquidity and expectations from the 2017 budget.
On the other hand, Mobil Oil recorded highest loss for the day, shedding N16.60 to close at N315.40 per share.
Nigerian Breweries trailed with a loss of N2.76 to close at N145.24 and CCNN lost 22k to close at N4.78 per share.
Flour Mills dipped 15k to close at N19.30, while NASCON was down by 11k to close at N8.39 per share.
In spite of the growth, the volume of shares transacted closed lower with an exchange of 353.14 million shares worth N9.16 billion in 4,034 deals, a decrease of 4.93 per cent.
This was in contrast with 371.14 million shares valued at N3.49 billion traded in 3,910 deals on Wednesday.
Zenith Bank was invesrors’ delight, trading 63.21 million shares worth N1.13 billion.
FBN Holdings followed with an account of 35.75 million shares valued at N143.73 million and Transcorp sold 30.53 million shares valued at N35.70 million.
United Bank for Africa traded 30.07 million shares worth N209.88 million, while Diamond Bank transacted 23.35 million shares valued at N21.96 million.
(Source: NAN)