Bellwether stocks lift Nigerian equity market by 0.54%

The Nigerian equity market appreciated 0.54 per cent on Friday, driven by gains bellwether stocks like MTNN, Dangote Cement, Access Bank and 15 others.

The All-Share Index (ASI) was up by 119.85 absolute points, growing 0.54 per cent to close at 22,198.43 points, the Market Capitalization added N62.46 billion, increasing 0.54 per cent to close at N11.57 trillion.

CHAMS, Prestige and Union Diagnostic led the 15 other gainers after appreciating 10 per cent, Presco with 9.89 per cent decline emerged the top loser among 12 others.  while PRESCO emerged as the top loser.

Consequently, the market year-to-date return moderated to -17.30 per cent.

Investors traded 379 million units of stocks worth ₦3.42 billion on Friday as the volume and value transactions dropped 27.83 per cent and 27.81 per cent respectively compared to the previous trading session.

Zenith Bank (95.39m units), Fidelity Bank (36.51m units) and GTBank (35.71m units) were the three most active equities in volumes terms, while Zenith Bank (₦1.15bn), GTBank (₦650.89mn) and Nestle (₦368.15m) led by value.

Most of the indices increased except the Consumer goods, which declined 0.55 per cent as the Lotus Islamic index emerged top advancer, increasing 1.05 per cent.