ByProvidence Obuh
The upward trend on the Nigerian Stock Exchange persisted Tuesday, as the value of listed equities represented by the market capitalisation appreciated by N54.82 billion.

In particular, the capitalisation rose by 0.92 per cent to close at N5.986 trillion from N5.931 trillion at which it opened.  Another key performance indices, the All share index surged by 0.92 per cent or 223.7 bases points to close at 24,430.20 points from 24,206.50 points.

The upsurge  was occasioned by gains on the share price of majority of the listed companies led by Guinness Nigeria Plc with a gain of N3.19 to close at N67.08 per share, Guinness Nigeria Plc followed with a gain of N3.06 to close at N185.13 per share and Cadbury Nigeria Plc garnered N1.37 to close at N28.89 per share.

Other share price gainers include: UAC Nigeria Plc N1.31, Glaxo Smithkline Consumer Plc N1.23, African Petroleum Plc N1.20, Unilever Nigeria Plc N1.13, UAC-Property Development Company Plc N0.86, Dangote Flour Mills Plc N0.69, Longman Nigeria Plc N0.35, among others.

On the contrary, Costain West Africa Plc led on the losers table dropping by N0.37 to close at N7.11 per share, Presco Plc followed with a loss of N0.25 to close at N5.75 per share and Ashaka Cement Plc dipped by N0.18 to close at N21.20 per share.

Other share price losers include: Nigeria Aviation Handling Company Plc N0.15, Eterna Oil and Gas Plc N0.15, United Bank for Africa Plc N0.14,Fidson Healthcare Plc N0.12, Custodians and Allied Insurance Plc N0.12, Honeywell Flour Mill Plc N0.10, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc N0.09, among others.

NSE 30 which  measures the performance of blue chips in the market gained by 0.91 per cent ,  NSE Food and Beverages gained the highest points by 1.95 per cent , NSE banking moved up by 0.81 per cent, NSE Oil and Gas gained by 0.46 per cent and NSE Insurance retraced by 0.71 per cent.

Equity trading appreciated by 36.89 per cent, however, 274.82 million shares valued at N2.50 billion in 5,716 deals, in contrast to a turnover of 200.76 million shares valued at N1.93 billion in 5,131 deals.
The Banking sub-sector dominated the other sub-sector on the sectorial analysis accounting for per cent of the market turnover with 201.09 million shares valued at N1.50 billion in 3,057 deals.  First City Monument Bank Plc was the most active in the sub-sector trading 64.34 million shares valued at N390.29 million in 148 deals, Skye Bank Plc followed with the exchange of 41.53 million shares valued at N305.01 million in 146 deals and Diamond Bank Plc recorded 18.68 million shares valued at N136.84 million in 180 deals.

The Insurance sub-sector trailed on the sectorial analysis accounting for 3.52 per cent of the market turnover with 9.68 million shares valued at N10.34 million in 203 deals.  Continenetal Re-insurance Plc recorded the most patronage trading five million shares valued at N5.75 million in three deals, Law Union and Rock Insurance Plc followed with the exchange of 1.41 million shares valued at N753,013.07 in 27 deals and Staco Insurance Plc recorded 100,000 shares valued at N50,000.00 in one deal.