Following share price gains recorded by major highly capitalised stocks, especially Dangote Cement and Flour Mills, trading on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) closed in an upward note yesterday, as market capitalisation rose by N74billion.

Precisely, at the close of trading yesterday, the All-share index rose by 214.2 points or 0.6 per cent from 36, 102.38 recorded on Wednesday to 36,316.58.

Similarly, market capitalisation of listed equities increased by N74billion from N12.443trillion to N12.517trillion.

Further review of yesterday’s transactions showed that Dangote Cement topped the gainers chart with 5.80 kobo to close at N219.80 per share. Flour Mills followed with 1.36 kobo to close at N28.89 per share.

Total oil added 1.11 kobo to close at N228.11 per share. Zenith Bank gained 0.51 kobo to close at N23.01 per share. National Salt Company of Nigeria, and Dangote Sugar Refinery garnered 0.20 kobo to close at N12.30 and N13.00 per share respectively.

Fidson added 0.15 kobo to close at N3.15 per share. May& Baker gained 0.14 kobo to close at N2.95 per share. UPL appreciated by 0.07 kobo to close at N2.85 per share. Continental Reinsurance also added 0.06 kobo to close at N1.30 per share.

However, Mobil Oil led others on the losers chart with 11.84 kobo to close at N225.06 per share while Nestle followed with 10.00 kobo to close at N1,210.00 per share.

Guinness lost 2.96 kobo to close at N85.00 per share. Nigerian Breweries dropped 1.00 kobo to close at N184.00 per share. WAPCO shed 0.50 kobo to close at N58.50 per share. Cement Company of Northern Nigeria lost 0.48 kobo to close at N9.67 per share.

Oando dropped 0.27 kobo to close at N6.86 per share. United Bank for Africa, and Access Bank lost 0.20 kobo to close at N9.30 and N9.73 per share. Eterna Oil depreciated by 0.22 kobo to close at N4.44 per share.

On the activity chart, the banking subsector were the most active stocks in volume terms with 80 million shares in 2,037 deals, while the food products subsector followed with 12 million units in 425 deals.

Transactions in the sector were driven by activities in the shares of Guaranty Trust Bank with 24 million shares in 232 deals, while Ecobank TransNational Incorporated followed with 11 million units in 65 deals.

The food products subsector was energised by activities in the shares of Dangote Sugar Refinery, and Dangote Flour Mills with 3.9 million and 3.1 million shares in 125 deals respectively. In all, investors exchanged 181 million shares in 4,313 deals.