BY Oluseyi Awojulugbe
The Nigerian Stock Exchange closed in the green despite the report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) that showed that inflation hit its highest point in 19 months.
Market capitalisation on the bourse grew by N114 billion to close at N15.256 trillion.
The NBS report showed that headline inflation rate firmed up in December by 0.13% to 11.98% from 11.85% in November.
Ambrose Omordion, the chief operating officer of InvestData Limited, said the upcoming meeting of the monetary policy committee helped boost investor confidence despite the data.
“I think the decision of MPC members next week will give a clearer picture of the next economic direction,” he told NAN.
“Despite December being the peak of the festive period, coupled with the border closure, inflation rate growth change is slowing down and the possibility of a decline in January is high.”
However, market breadth closed downbeat with 13 gainers and 16 losers.
MTN Nigeria Communications led the gainers’ table, increasing by N3.60 to close at N126.60 per share.
Guaranty Trust Bank followed with a gain of N1.15 to close at N33.50, while Stanbic IBTC garnered N1 to close at N42.50 per share.
UACN added 70k to close at N10.70, while Zenith Bank grew by 50k to close at N22.30 per share.
On the other hand, Unilever topped the losers’ chart, dropping by 30k to close at N18.50 per share.
Lafarge Africa trailed with a loss of 15k to close at N15.80, while United Bank for Africa dipped 10k to close at N8.80 per share.
Union Bank was also down by 10k to close at N6.05, while NEM Insurance dropped by 9k to close at N1.96 per share.
A breakdown of the activity chart shows that United Bank for Africa was the toast of investors with 65.74 million shares worth N584.80 million.
Access Bank followed with an account of 47.47 million valued at N495.53 million, while Zenith Bank traded 38.28 million shares worth N844.89 million.
FCMB Group accounted for 21.23 million shares valued at N41.28 million, while Omatek exchanged 20.01 million shares worth N8.20 million.
In all, investors bought and sold 324.97 million shares valued at N3.55 billion exchanged in 4,175 deals.
This was against a turnover of 387.16 million shares valued at N5.02 billion traded in 4,654 deals on Thursday.
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