Nigerian Stock Market grows by 0.53% as Stanbic IBTC and MTNN stocks rise

On Thursday, the All-Share Index moved by 0.53 percent (207.86 points) to 39,293 from the 39,085 it was on the previous day. This reduces the monthly and yearly losses to about 1.3 percent and 2.4 percent respectively.

This move was facilitated by the rise of stocks Stanbic IBTC Holdings and MTN Nigeria Communications. Other stocks which contributed were GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria, UPDC Real Estate Investment Trust, and Lafarge Africa.

Analysts are convinced this is related to the decision of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria to not change the interest rate.

They're also convinced that the announcement of dividends from these companies contributed to their shares selling out fast.

The market activities stayed on the good side with 23 stocks gaining and 14 stocks losing. Gainers' chart was topped by Wapic Insurance with 10 percent to close at 55k per share, followed by UPDC Real Estate Investment Trust with a profit of 9.8 percent to end the day at N5.6, while Pharma-Deko soared 9.63 percent to end the day at N1.48 per share.

MTNN traded 10.07 million shares in total which are valued at N1.61 billion. A pharmaceutical company, Neimeth International grew by 9.55 percent to close at N1.95 while competitors GlaxoSmithKline Consumer appreciated by 9.45 percent to close at N6.95 per share.

On the slow side, Sovereign Trust Insurance declined by 9.61 percent to close at N0.22, per share, followed by NPF Microfinance Bank with 7.22 percent to close at N1.80. Lagos-based insurance company, Prestige Assurance saw its shares drop 6.82 percent to end the trading day at N0.41 per share.

Japaul Gold and Ventures declined by 4.44 percent to close at N0.43, while Dangote Sugar Refinery also depreciated by 2.67 percent to finish at N16.40 per share.

Union Bank of Nigeria had the most traded shares, topping the activity chart with 79.57 million shares, worth an estimated N421.7 million. It was followed by Guaranty Trust Bank which had 19.28 million shares valued at N598.97 million. Bank of the year, Zenith Bank traded 12.09 million shares valued at about N265.89 million.

The average daily trading volume however went down by 36.61 percent to 229.42 million shares traded in 4,016 deals and worth N3.78 billion. 

On Wednesday, 361.90 million shares were traded in 4,018 deals which were worth N5.7 billion.