By Samuel Bankole
Nigeria’s equities market closed on a positive note on Thursday, driven by gains in the shares of Dangote Sugar, United Bank for Africa (UBA), and Sterling Bank.
Custodian shares surged by 5.80 percent, while Sterling Bank shares saw an increase of 3.75 percent.
Nascon rallied by 3.27 percent, Dangote Sugar grew by 3.27 percent, and UBA’s shares rose by 2.62 percent.
As a result, the market’s main index, the All Share Index (ASI), rose by 0.27 percent to close at 63,930.72. The total market capitalization of equities listed on the NGX (Nigerian Exchange Group) increased to N811 trillion from N34.716 trillion as of the previous close.
A total volume of 1,358.947 million units valued at N18.07 billion was traded in 7,179 deals. The market breadth was positive, with 42 gainers as against 21 losers.
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The NGX 30 Index also witnessed an uptick of 0.25 percent, closing at 2,329.38 points compared to 2,323.52 points at the previous close. The market turnover closed with a traded volume of 1,147.18 million units. Key gainers were Custodian and Sterling, while Fidelity and United Capital faced declines.
On the downside, shares of Fidelity Bank slipped by 3.92 percent, United Capital declined by 0.34 percent, and FCMB shares fell by 0.16 percent.
Meanwhile, at the money market, the Overnight (O/N) rate increased by 9.62 percent, closing at 21.92 percent, as compared to the previous close of 12.30 percent.
The Open Repo (OPR) rate also saw a rise of 9.75 percent, closing at 21.00 percent compared to 11.25 percent on the previous day.
In other market developments, FMDQ Exchange has approved the quotation of UAC of Nigeria PLC’s N1.04 billion series 4, N1.61 billion series 5, and N0.56 billion series 6 commercial papers under the company’s N45.00 billion commercial paper issuance program on its platform.
(omayowa@globalfinancialdigest.com; Newsroom: +234 8033 964 138)
