The United Bank for Africa (UBA) on Tuesday drove activity on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) with a turnover of 2.09 billion shares valued at N19.76 billion.

Mr Ambrose Omordion, the Chief Operating Officer, InvestData Ltd., attributed the activity in UBA to part of the management’s plan to reduce the bank’s issued shares in line with the shareholders’ mandate.

Omordion said that the bank had a scheme for members of staff and the shares in the scheme were in excess of two billion ordinary shares which were offloaded.

He said that the transaction would boost both the bank’s earnings and dividend payout going forward.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the volume of shares traded closed higher due to huge activity posted by UBA.

Consequently, a total of 2.40 billion shares worth N21. 61 billion were transacted in 3,715 deals against 322.81 million shares valued at N2.73 billion achieved in 3,830 deals on Monday.

Continental Reinsurance came second with an exchange of 174.42 million shares worth N219.77 million, while FBN Holdings sold 35.51 million shares valued at N208.48 million.

Oando traded 13.59 million shares worth N89.96 million and Skye Bank accounted for 9.31 million shares valued at N5.59 million.

Also, the NSE market indices appreciated further with the All-Share Index growing by 135.18 points or 0.41 per cent to close at 33,436.61 against 33,301.43 recorded on Monday.

Similarly, the market capitalisation rose by N46 billion or 0.40 per cent to close at N11.523 trillion in contrast with N11.477 trillion posted on Monday, due to price gains.

Nestle led the gainers’ table during the day, gaining N16 to close at N920 per share.

Beta Glass followed with a gain of N2.70 to close at N57.47 and Okomu Oil appreciated by N2.62 to close at N63 per share.

Unilever gained N1.81 to close at N38.19, while Nigerian Breweries appreciated by N1.70 to close at N159.11 per share.

On the other hand, Forte Oil recorded the highest price loss to lead the laggards’ table with a loss of N2.54 to close at N57.96 per share.

Cadbury trailed with a loss of 56k to close at N12 and Zenith Bank shed 42k to close at N21.53 per share.

Custodian and Allied Insurance declined by 17k to close at N3.40, while May and Baker was down by 14k to close at N2.65 per share. (NAN)

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