Tuesday On The Nigerian Stock Exchange: A Summary

Tuesday's trading session came to a close with a total of 339,018,342 shares traded in 4,203 deals, with a market value of N2,703,177,525. Compared to Monday's trading day, there was a decline of 33 percent in trade volume and 3 percent in the number of deals. This puts the market capitalization of the stock exchange at N20.43 trillion.

Gainers and Losers 

Data from today's session shows that 104 listed equities participated in trading, which ended with 24 gainers and 12 losers. On top of the gainers' list was PZ Cussons, whose share price went up 10 percent to settle at N4.95. It only exceeded Honeywell Flour Mill by a tiny margin, as the shares of the flour company went up approximately 10 percent as well. Sovereign Trust Insurance and N.E.M. Insurance were next, with share-price going up by 8 percent and 7.5 percent respectively.

For losers, Royal Exchange came out with a loss of 10 percent to wrap the day at N0.36 per share. It was followed closely by Portland Paints & Products, which lost 9.9 percent of it share share-price. FTN Cocoa and Chams were next, recording losses of 8.89 percent and 4.55 percent respectively.

The company with the highest volume of traded shares was Fidelity Bank, which saw 125.2 million of its shares exchanged hands. It was followed by another bank, Zenith, which has 26.18 million shares traded. UAC of Nigeria and Guaranty Trust Bank followed with 25.82 and 22.76 million shares traded respectively.

Performance Indices

The All-Share Index of the Nigerian Stock Exchange went up 0.43 percent, or 167.56 points to end the day at a total of 39,015.58. This so a 1.07 percent improvement from last week, 1.65 percent improvement from last month, but a 3.12 percent loss from its position last year. 

The Premium Index of the stock exchange went up by 0.6 percent, and the Banking Index went up 1.75 percent, signaling the good performance of banks on the market. 

Note: 

The Nigerian Stock Exchange has all companies classified into three categories of listing: 

- The Premium Board 

This is for elite companies which meet the liquidity criteria and strict corporate governance cap.

- Main Board 

This is for larger companies that are given admission to the exchange on the basis of their profitability and market cap.

- Alternative Securities Market

This is for smaller, high-growth emerging businesses.