Equities market hits 37,000 points on 1.37% gain

…as Conoil, Champion lead gainers; Cadbury, UAC lead losers

The Bulls have continued to dominate the equities market, as the macro-economic narratives are recording positives.

The stock market, which mirrors the outlook of the economy, is showing indications of a speedily recovering economy, as three major benchmarks have been surpassed this week on vigorous bargain hunting embarked upon by investors.

The Nigerian Stock Exchange’s All-Share Index, having surpassed yet another milestone, crossed the 37,000 benchmark to close at 37,245.17 points, on Thursday. The ASI grew by 1.37 per cent, as most sector index closed the day in the positive zone except the oil & gas index, which close 0.06 per cent lower, slightly hurt by investor apathy, following news of some recovery by the EFCC from listed oil and gas marketers.

Lead market indices, ASI and Market Capitalisation hit three-year highs after the close of trade on Wednesday.

Conoil, emerged the day’s top gainers, with a growth of 10.17 per cent to close at N36.40 per share, Champion rose 6.74 per cent to close at N2.85 per share and Jaiz Bank grew by 5 per cent to close at 63 kobo per share.

However, Cadbury led the day’s losers, with a decline of 9.68 per cent to close at 11.20 per share, UAC-Prop fell 5.46 per cent to close at N2.77; while Morison Industries ended with a loss of 4.90 per cent 4.57 to close at N1.36 per share.

At the end of the day’s trading, investors, on 5,939 deals, moved a total of 542.8 million shares valued at N8.01 billion, leading market Capitalisation to a robust close of N12.8 trillion after gaining N174b.