Major petroleum stocks lead activity on NSE

Major petroleum stocks on Wednesday, topped activities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) with Mobil Oil leading the gainers’ chart.
Mobil garnered N3 to close at N279 per share.
Forte Oil followed with a gain of N1.20 to close at N65.20 and Nestle Nigeria gained N1 to close at N750 per share.
Lafarge Wapco appreciated by 40k to close at N40.40 and NASCON added 37k to close at N7.84 per share.
As a result, the market capitalisation which opened at N9.020 trillion improved by N8 billion or 0.09 per cent to close at N9.028 trillion.
Also, the All-Share Index rose by 22.91 points or 0.09 per cent to close at 26,240.45 against 26,217.54 recorded on Tuesday.
Mr Ambrose Omordion, the Chief Operating Officer, InvestData Ltd.,said that the market would continue to experience mixed performance with the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) retention of interest rate at 14 per cent.
Omordion further said that the decision to retain interest rate 14 per cent would redirect flow of funds in the financial market with investors and traders searching for quick returns and safe haven.
He also said that the market would continue with oscillating trend till corporate earnings start hitting the market.
On the hand, Guinness topped the losers’ chart, dropping by 95k to close at N70.05 per share.
UAC Property Development trailed with a loss of 14k to close at N2.88, while NAHCO shed 12k to close at N2.60 per share.
Africa Prudential Registar lost 7k to close at N3.12, while Honey Well Floor Mills dropped by 6k to close at N1.15 per share.
Transcorp drove the activity chart, trading 23.66 million shares worth N18.91 million.
Presco accounted for 23.42 million shares valued at N1.03 billion and Fidelity Bank traded 20.07 million shares, worth N18.08 million.
FCMB Group exchanged 14.28 million shares, valued at N18.90 million while Zenith Bank sold 12.03 million shares, worth N185.77 million.
Investors bought and sold 190.01 million shares, valued at N2.43 billion achieved in 2,896 deals.
This is in contrast with 187.70 million shares worth N10.43 billion transacted in 3,055 deals.