The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), on Monday, opened for the week on a positive note with the market capitalisation hitting N14 trillion mark for the first time after three years.
The market capitalisation rose above N14 trillion to N14.181 trillion for the first time after gaining N350 billion or 2.38 per cent as against N13.851 trillion on Friday.
The last time market capitalisation hovered around N14 trillion was in the half year of 2014.
The NSE All-Share Index also extended gains, increasing by 926.39 points or 2.38 per cent compared to 38,923.26 achieved on Friday.
Mr Ambrose Omordion, the Chief Operating Officer, InvestData Ltd attributed the development to assets reclassification and allocation funds by fund managers to reposition for the new year.
Omordion said that fund managers were taking position in the equity market being the quickness window for return, especially as earnings reporting season was around the corner.
He said that the fund managers were optimistic that positive economic data would likely lead to high dividend payout as companies announce their 2017 audited results.
An analysis of the price movement showed that Dangote Cement led the gainers’ table for the day, growing by N11.15 to close at N234.26 per share.
Mobil Oil followed with a gain of N8.50 to close at N178.50, while Guinness garnered N4.40 to close at N100 per share.
Conoil Oil added N3.10 to close at N32.41, while Nigerian Breweries increased by N1.90 to close at N140 per share.
Conversely, Vitafoam recorded the highest loss to lead the losers’ table, declining by 16k to close at N3.09 per share.
Dangote Sugar trailed with a loss of 15k to close at N21.70, C & I Leasing was down by 7k to close at N1.36 per share.
Africa Prudential Registrar was down by 5k to close at N4.48, while NPF Microfinance Bank Plc went down by 4k to close at N1.33 per share.
Transcorp led the activity chart, exchanging 115.19 million shares worth N203.28 million.
It was followed by Nigerian Breweries with an account of 88.29 million shares valued at N12.36 billion, while Diamond Bank traded 82.72 million shares worth N162.32 million.
FCMB Group exchanged 41.16 million shares valued at N80.07 million, while FBN Holdings sold 40.49 million shares worth N379.13 million.
The volume of shares traded closed lower as investors bought and sold 604.53 million shares valued at N16.17 billion in 5,769 deals.
This was in contrast with a turnover of 753.31 million shares worth N11.02 billion exchanged in 7,253 deals.
