NGX: Equity markets recover as investors gain ₦541 billion

Investors in the Nigerian equity market earned N541 billion at the close of trading on Thursday.

This follows a surge in the prices of shares such as Presco, UACN, and Morison, among others, on the stock exchange floor.

The benchmark All-Share Index (ASI) index increased to 196,908.76 point of 125,857.53 points recorded on the previous trading day.

After five hours of trading on the capital market, equity capitalization rose to N126.3 trillion from N125.7 trillion recorded by the exchange on Wednesday.

Market breadth was flat, with 30 stocks advancing, 30 declining, and 87 stocks unchanged in 55,465 trades.

A total of 549,781,128 shares were traded worth N44.7 billion.

FTN Cocoa, Fidson and Deap Cap led the gainers chart, with share price growth of 10%, 9.97% and 9.89% respectively, closing at N6.72, N105.35 and N7.00 per share, up from N5.70, N95.80 and N6.37 per share.

READ ALSO: Explainer: Why the Nigerian stock market delivers the second best returns in the world

Eterna, Omatek and Scoa led the rest of the price declines with price drops of 10%, 10% and 9.94% respectively to close at N42.30, N2.52 and N22.65 per share, down from the previous N47.00, N2.80 and N25.15 per share.

On the volume index, FTG Insure led trading with 32 million shares in 383 transactions, followed by Access Bank Holding which traded 28 million shares in 1,695 transactions.

First Holding Company traded 27 million shares in 619 transactions.

On the value index, Dangote Cement traded shares worth N20.6 billion in 2,189 transactions, followed by Aradel, which traded equities worth N4.1 billion in 1,596 transactions.

Zenith Bank traded shares worth N2.5 billion in 2,080 transactions.

Babajide Okeowo