Activities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Wednesday defied strike called by a faction of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to protest fuel price hike with the index appreciating by 0.41 per cent.
The NSE All-Share Index rose by 108.35 points or 0.41 per cent to close at 26,763.83 compared with 26,655.48 recorded on Tuesday.
Also, the market capitalisation rose by N20 billion to close at N9.192 trillion compared with N9.172 trillion posted on Tuesday.
Mallam Garba Kurfi, the Managing Director, APT Securities and Funds Ltd., said that for the first time in history the market recorded positive growth during a nationwide strike.
Kurfi said that the strike was not effective because most Nigerians were not in support of it due to the fact that they had been buying fuel at a higher price even when it was sold at N86.50 per litre.
He stated that people were in support of the price adjustment because it would bring about competition and availability of the product.
Kurfi explained that most Nigerians were in support of the present administration because of its fight against corruption.
An analysis of the price movement chart indicated that Nigerian Breweries led the gainers’ table, increasing by N2.48 to close at N127.50 per share.
Zenith Bank came second with a gain of 58k to close at N15.02, while Guaranty Trust Bank increased by 51k to close at N19.54 per share.
Presco gained 49k to close at N35.51, while Dangote Sugar Refinery appreciated by 20k to close at N6.20 per share.
On the other hand, 7UP led the losers’ table, shedding N4 to close at N141 per share.
Flour Mills trailed with a loss of N1.17 to close at N22.33, while Total lost N1 to close at N169 per share.
Unilever declined by 79k to close at N32.01, while Guinness shed 75k to close at N99 per share.
Wema Bank was the most active, accounting for 380.53 million shares worth N275.53 million.
It was followed by Diamond Bank with an exchange of 60.25 million shares valued at N102.77 million, while Transcorp traded 47.31 million shares worth N52.25 million.
Zenith Bank sold 45.08 million shares valued at N671.08 million and United Bank for Africa transacted 23.16 million shares worth N93.47 million.
In all, the volume of shares traded closed higher with a total of 670.80 million shares valued at N2.06 million exchanged in 3,976 deals.
This was against the 396.03 million shares worth N2.66 billion achieved in 5,513 deals on Tuesday.
