Nigerian stocks strengthened 0.75 per cent on Friday, helped by an expanding investor exuberance as the bourse reported its fifth gain for the week.

The uptrend continued to rely on exploding demand for the shares of FBN Holdings, which contributed 65.4 and 70 per cent of the trade volume and value respectively.

The financial services group alongside GTCO, Nigerian Breweries and UCAP were instrumental in Friday’s strong performance.

Market breadth, a barometer for determining the level of investor sentiment towards trade, was positive as 30 gainers were reported compared to 8 losers.

The all-share index grew by 308.17 points to 41,438.15, while market capitalisation rose to N21.6 trillion. Year to date, the index is up by 2.9 per cent.

TOP FIVE GAINERS

SCOA topped the gainers’ chart, appreciating by 9.20 per cent to close at N0.95. Custodian went up by 8.96 per cent to N7.30. International Breweries rose to N5, notching up 8.70 per cent in the process. FBN Holdings added 8.08 per cent to end the trade at N12.70. GSK completed the top 5, climbing by 6.56 per cent to N6.50.

TOP FIVE LOSERS

Chams was the worst performing stock, declining by 8.33 per cent to close at N0.22. UPL shed 6.25 per cent to close at N1.50. WAPCO fell to N24.10, losing 4.74 per cent. Africa Prudential declined 3.62 per cent to N6.65. Sterling closed at N1.52, going down by 3.18 per cent.

TOP FIVE TRADES

A total of 729 million shares estimated at N8.5 billion were traded in 4,852 deals.

FBN Holdings was the most active stock with 476.5 million units of its shares worth N5.929 billion traded in 961 deals. Universal Insurance shares of 39.7 million units and priced at N8.3 million exchanged hands in 26 transactions. GTCO had 33.2 million shares valued at N972.4 million traded in 273 deals. Fidelity traded 21.9 million shares estimated at N59.8 million in 174 transactions. Transcorp traded 20.8 million shares valued at N20.4 million in 93 deals.

PT