Nigerian stocks rebound on financial services shares’ gains

Nigerian stocks bounced back on Friday as the benchmark index ticked up by 0.47 per cent on the back of huge investors’ demand for financial services stocks but the gain was too little to erase the loss the market recorded at the previous session.

Driving the gain were Seplat, FBN Holdings, NGX Group, ETI, Zenith and GTCO.

Despite the climb, the volume of shares trade dropped by 6 per cent while the total value of transactions fell by as much as 34 per cent.

Details came to light Friday morning of the acquisition of further stake in FBN Holdings by billionaire mogul Femi Otedola, bringing its total interest in the group to 7.57 per cent and consolidating his position as its biggest shareholder.

A formal announcement will likely follow in the days ahead Shares in FBN Holdings jumped 2.59 per cent to N11.90 after the news broke.

Market breadth, which measures investors’ sentiment towards trade, was positive as 24 gainers emerged compared to 12 laggards.

The all-share index rose 197.75 basis points to 41,882.97, while market capitalisation closed higher at N21.86 trillion. The index has been up 4 per cent since the start of the year.

TOP FIVE GAINERS

Meyer led gainers, appreciating by 10 per cent to close at N0.33. Sovereign Trust rose to N0.24, notching up 9.09 per cent in the process.

UPDCREIT added 8.64 per cent to end today’s trade at N4.40. Guinness went up by 6.85 per cent to N39. Champion Breweries climbed 6.27 per cent to N2.71.

TOP FIVE LOSERS

Unity Bank led losers, declining by 6.52 per cent to close at N0.43. Jaiz Bank shed 5.97 per cent to close at N0.63. Custodian fell to N7.10, losing 5.33 per cent.

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Courteville dipped to N0.37, recording 5.13 per cent depreciation. Chams closed at N0.20, going down by 4.76 per cent.

TOP FIVE TRADES

Altogether, 444.9 million shares estimated at N3.4 billion were traded in 3,594 deals.

C&I Leasing was the most active stock with 146.4 million units of its shares worth N672.5 million traded in 10 deals. Access Bank traded 55.8 million shares priced at N511 million in 130 transactions.

FBN Holdings had 35.3 million shares valued at N415.1 million traded in 250 deals. FCMB traded 35.3 million shares estimated at N105.5 million in 73 transactions. Unity Bank traded 30 million shares valued at N12.8 million in 43 deals.