By Providence  Obuh

Activities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange NSE last week maintained unstable trend as equities market opened the week on a bearish note to close slightly on a bullish note by N18.07 billion.

However the market capitalization of the 194 First -Tier equities appreciated by 0.22 per cent to close at N8.259 trillion. from N8.240 trillion at which it opened the week.

The All-Share Index appreciated by 39.11 points or 0.15 per cent to close at 25,829.75 points from 25,790.64 points at which at which it opened.

Guinness Nigeria Plc led 31 other stocks on the gainers’ table, higher than the 28 of the preceding week with a gain of N21.00 or 9.1 per cent to close at N251.00 per share, Julius Berger Nigeria Plc followed with a gain of N6.38 or 12.2 per cent to close at N58.49.00 per share and Conoil Plc garnered N5.14 or 14.0 per cent

Other price gainers’ include: Lafarge WAPCO Plc N1.30, Dangote Cement Plc N1.00, Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc N0.99, Nigerian Breweries Plc N0.94, National Salt Company of Nigeria Plc N0.66, Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc N0.50, First City Monument Bank Plc N0.39, among others.

On the contrary, Oando Plc led on the price losers’ table, dropping by N2.00 or 3.70 per cent to close at N52.00 per share, UAC of Nigeria Plc followed with a loss of N1.94 or 4.80 per cent to close at N38.11 per share and Ashaka Cement Plc – (1.21) (4.80)

Other share price losers include: Berger Paints Plc N1.19, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria Plc N1.18, Grief Nigeria Plc N0.73, Beta Glass Company Plc N0.70, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated Plc N0.59, Diamond Bank Plc N0.56, Honeywell Flour Mills Plc N0.51, among others.

A turnover of 1.326 billion shares valued at N10.2 billion was recorded was recorded in 27,440 deals in the week under review, in contrast to the previous week’s turnover of 2.316 billion shares valued at N13.68 billion exchanged by investors in 26,227 deals.

The Banking subsector was the most active during the week accounting for 47.07 per cent, (measured by turnover volume); with 878.74 million shares valued at N7.16 billion exchanged by investors in 14,874 deals. Volume in the Banking sub-sector was largely driven by activity in the shares of Zenith Plc trading 93.79 million shares valued at N1.42 billion in 1,525 deals, First Bank of Nigeria Plc followed with 70.77 million shares valued at N956.90 million in 2,705 deals and Guaranty Trust Bank Plc recorded 55.85 million shares valued at N899.99 million in 2,433 deals.

However, NSE-30 Index appreciated by 8.32 points or 0.74 per cent to close at 1,149.94. One of the four sectorial indices appreciated during the week compared with two that so appreciated during the preceding week. The NSE Food & Beverage Index appreciated by 3.10 points or 0.37 per cent to close at 849.40, while the NSE Banking Index depreciated by 2.44 points or 0.60 per cent to close at 396.78, the NSE Insurance Index depreciated by 2.95 points or 1.69 per cent to close at 169.59 and the NSE Oil & Gas Index depreciated by 0.95 points or 0.27 per cent to close at 332.02.