Nigeria stock market capitalisation improves by about $184m

Trading activities on the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) maintained an upward movement with the market capitalization increasing further by N37 billion (about $184 million).

Market capitalization, which opened at N8.584 trillion (about $42.7 billion) improved by N37 billion or 0.43 percent to close at N8.621 trillion (about $42.9 billion), Today Business online reports.

Similarly, the All- share index rose by 105.33 points or 0.42 percent to close at 25.062.41 compared with 24,957.08 on Thursday.

Nigerian Breweries recorded the highest price gain to lead the gainers’ table, gaining N5.51 to close at N115.89 per share.

PZ came second with N1.01 to close at N21.36 and Presco gained 75k to close at N35.76 per share.

Cadbury garnered 73k to close at N15.50, while Zenith Bank appreciated by 42k to close at N12.70 per share.

On the other hand, Forte oil, for the third consecutive day, topped the losers chart, losing N11.28 to close at N214.35 per share.

Nestle followed with a loss of N4.74 to close at N615.26 and Lafarge Wapco dipped N2.34 to close at N67.99 per share.

Premier paints lost 54k to close at N10.39, while UACN dropped 17k to close at N18.03 per share.

Inspite of the growth posted by market indexes, the volume of shares traded closed lower with 229.11 million shares valued at N1.50 billion exchanged in 3,493 deals.

African Global bank, UBA was the investors delight, accounting for 31.55 million shares valued at N107.28 million.

NSE was established in 1960 as the Lagos Stock Exchange and today services the largest economy in Africa. As at December 31, 2013, it had about 200 listed companies with a total market capitalization of about N12.88 trillion ($80.8 billion).