Nigerian stocks expanded by 0.1 per cent on Friday, touching their peak since February 11 as investors’ risk-on disposition to equity investment helped strengthen gains.

The bourse has reported gains in seven consecutive trade sessions, which have also been marked by notable improvement in trade volume.

Like in all other sessions this week, Friday’s advance rode on the back of appreciation recorded by a number of bank stocks including ETI, GTCO and Zenith.

Market breadth, which measures the depth of investors’ sentiment towards trade, was positive as 23 advancers emerged relative to 17 laggards. The all-share index was up 39.21 points to 40,829.15, while market capitalisation grew to N21.3 trillion.

The index is up 1.48 per cent so far this year.

TOP FIVE GAINERS

UPL led gainers, appreciating by 9.72 per cent to close at N1.58. Sovereign Trust went up 9.09 per cent to N0.24. Caverton rose to N1.68, notching up 6.33 per cent. Regal Insurance added 5.26 per cent to end trade at N0.40. NPF Microfinance Bank completed the top 5, climbing by 5.26 per cent to N1.80.

TOP FIVE LOSERS

Academy Press was the worst performing stock, declining by 7.69 per cent to close at N0.36. Africa Prudential shed 6.06 per cent to close at N6.20. Honeywell fell to N3.56, losing 3.78 per cent. Jaiz slid to N0.58, recording 3.33 per cent depreciation. Mutual Benefits closed at N0.30, going down by 3.23 per cent.

TOP FIVE TRADES

Altogether, 331.1 million shares estimated at N2.9 billion were traded in 3,986 deals.

FBN Holdings was the most active stock with 154.7 million units of its shares worth N1.5 billion traded in 629 deals. GTCO shares of 17.3 units, priced at N495.2 million, exchanged hands in 202 transactions. Fidelity had 13.8 million shares valued at N35.9 million traded in 135 deals. Transcorp traded 12.5 million shares estimated at N12.1 million in 66 transactions. ETI traded 11.5 million shares valued at N72 million in 146 deals.

PT