Nigerian stocks scaled up by 1.29 per cent (or N324 billion) on Wednesday, on track for another week of positive yield as telecom powerhouse Airtel and Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) led the advance.
Airtel continued to draw interest from investors, garnering 10 per cent gain, the maximum daily appreciation allowed by the bourse, which catapulted its share price to an all-time high of N1,271.
The telco’s new valuation of N4.8 trillion now places it a spitting distance away from that of Dangote Cement, Nigeria’s biggest company by market capitalisation, meaning Airtel could usurp the cement-maker and take the top spot if the momentum of gain is sustained.
Market breadth, often used by investors and market watchers to measure investors’ sentiment to trade, was neutral as 19 laggards were reported compared to 19 laggards.
The all-share index rose 590.48 points to 46,529.99 points, while market capitalisation closed higher at N25.1 trillion.
The index has seen an 8.93 per cent gain January to date.
TOP FIVE GAINERS
Airtel traded up 10 per cent to close at N1,271. ETI went up 9.55 per cent to N10.90. Courteville rose to N0.60, notching up 9.09 per cent in the process. Academy added 8.86 per cent to end trade at N0.86. Learn Africa completed the top 5, climbing by 8.53 per cent to N1.40.
TOP FIVE LOSERS
Cadbury was the worst performing stock, declining by 9.47 per cent to close at N8.60. Prestige shed 8.70 per cent to close at N0.42.
READ ALSO: Nigerian stocks scrape fragile recovery in flat trade
Champion fell to N2.35, losing 7.84 per cent. Linkage Assurance slumped to N0.52, recording 7.14 per cent depreciation. Neimeth closed at N1.80, going down by 5.26 per cent.
TOP FIVE TRADES
In all, 329 million shares estimated at N4.8 billion were traded in 4,219 deals.
Multiverse traded the most shares with 57.6 million units of its common stock worth N11.9 million traded in 112 transactions. Mutual Benefits transacted 48.3 million shares priced at N12.1 million exchanged hands in 65 transactions.
GTCO had 36.7 million shares valued at N936.9 million traded in 371 deals. Chams traded 22.1 million shares estimated at N4.6 million in 33 transactions. Nigerian Breweries traded 13.4 million shares valued at N632.5 million in 62 deals.
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