Nigerian stocks sustained their newfound mettle on Wednesday as the main equity index grew for the fifth trading day in a trot, expanding by 0.34 per cent to its peak level since March 14.
Investors’ demand for bank shares especially those of GTCO, Union Bank and UBA helped stoke gain as much as shares in MTN.
MTN apparently ignited investors interest after its announcement two days back that it had obtained a final approval to run a payment service bank called MoMo Payment Service Bank Limited.
Market breadth was positive as 31 gainers emerged compared to 16 laggards.
The all-share index jumped by 162.28 basis points to 47,367.31. Similarly, market capitalisation expanded to N25.5 trillion
The index has been up by 10.9 per cent since the year started.
TOP FIVE GAINERS
Meyer grew by 9.56 per cent to N1.49. Ikeja Hotel gained 9.24 per cent to close at N1.30. Caverton rose by 3.66 per cent to N1.26.
Union Bank leapt to N6.50, notching up 6.56 per cent in the process. FTN Cocoa completed the top 5, climbing up by 6.45 per cent to N0.33.
TOP FIVE LOSERS
Sunu Assurance declined 7.69 per cent to N0.36. Sterling Bank fell to N1.41, losing 6 per cent. Unilever dipped to N12.70, recording 4.51 per cent loss.
WAPIC Insurance closed at N0.43, going down by 4.44 per cent. United Capital shrank by 3.97 per cent to end the day at N13.30.
TOP FIVE TRADES
A total of 391.9 million shares worth N10 billion were traded in 5,419 deals.
GTCO was the most preferred stock today with 65.9 million units of its shares worth N1.6 billion traded in 809 deals. Zenith Bank had 43.9 million units of its shares priced at N1.1 billion exchanged hands in 525 transactions.
UBA had 28.9 million shares valued at N235.7 million traded in 228 deals. Fidelity Bank traded 28.5 million shares estimated at N106.5 million in 239 transactions. MTNN traded 22.8 million shares valued at N4.8 billion in 328 deals.
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