Banking stocks dominate transactions on NSE

The banking sector, on Thursday, dominated transactions on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) with Zenith Bank emerging the most traded equity.
Zenith Bank accounted for 42.05 million shares valued at N661.61 million.
It was trailed by FCMB Group followed with a turnover of 41.17 million shares worth N145.59 million and  United Bank for Africa traded 24.94 million shares valued at N159.29 million.
Guaranty Trust Bank exchanged 16.32 million shares worth N435.82 million,  while Air Service traded 15.22 million shares valued at N65.13. million
A total of 255.65 million shares worth N2.45 billion were achieved in 5,106 deals.
This was in contrast with a turnover  of 264.49 million shares valued at N2.89 billion exchanged in 3,958 deals on Wednesday.
Further analysis of trading report indicated that Nigerian Breweries recorded  the highest gain during the day,  appreciating by N3.99 to close at N128 per share.
Guinness came second with a gain of N2 to close at N63, while International Breweries gained N1.66 to close at N19.50 per share.
Oando added 29k to close at N6.83 and Zenith Bank grew  by 23k to close at N15.93 per share.
However, the All-Share Index appreciated marginally by 50.01 points or 0.20 per cent to 26,166.80 against 26,116.79 posted on Wednesday.
Also, the market capitalisation which opened at N9.027 trillion increased  by N18 billion or 0.20 per cent to close at N9.045 trillion.
On the other hand, Stanbic IBTC topped the losers’ chart, shedding N2.64 to close at N24.81 per share.
Lafarge Africa trailed with a loss of N1.32 to close at N49.60 and Unilever was down by 50k to close at N33 per share.
Flour Mills shed 48k to close at N17.50, while Forte Oil declined by 44k to close at N43.56 per share.