Zenith Bank tops most traded shares as Bank Chief is nominated Central Bank Governor, Premiumtimesng says

The Managing Director of Zenith Bank, Godwin Emefiele, is to be the next Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Zenith Bank, Thursday, was the most traded shares on the Nigerian Stock Exchange after the bank’s boss was nominated as the next Central Bank Governor.

Nigeria’s President, Goodluck Jonathan, Thursday, named the Managing Director of Zenith Bank, Godwin Emefiele, as the next Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

In a letter addressed to the Senate President, David Mark, and read on the floor of the Senate, the president, who urged the parliament to treat the nomination with dispatch, said Mr. Emefiele would replace suspended Lamido Sanusi, whose tenure is billed to expire in June.

Perhaps responding to Mr. Emefiele’s nomination, Zenith Bank was the toast of investors, accounting for 69.05 million shares valued at N1.37 billion.

Access Bank came second on the activity chart with 57.54 million shares worth N492.76 million, while FBN Holdings sold 37.62 million shares valued at N459.12 million. UBA accounted for 28.61 million shares worth N201.79 million, while Skye Bank recorded a turnover of 26.88 million shares valued at N90.82 million.

Guinness led the losers’ chart, dropping N8.90 to close at N171.10 per share. It was followed by Nigerian Breweries with a loss of N4.89, to close at N146.61 per share. Unilever went down by N2 to close at N48, while GTBank and Oando declined by N1.29 each, to close at N24.62 and N18.96 per share, respectively.

Dangote Cement recorded the highest gain for the day, appreciating by N1.92 to close at N239.92 per share. PZ Cussons trailed with a gain of N1.86 to close at N39.12, while International Breweries appreciated by 35k to close at N29.50 per share. NAHCO gained 17k to close at N5.87, while Air Services grew by 11k to close at N2.47 per share.

Investors on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, on Thursday bought 483.545 million shares worth N4.85 billion in 4,539 deals.

This was against a turnover of 303.346 million shares worth N3.8 billion traded by investors in 5,911 deals on Wednesday.

Market capitalisation lost N186 billion or 1.45 per cent to close at N12.486 trillion, against the N12.654 trillion recorded on Wednesday.

The NSE All-Share Index lost 580.89 points or 1.47 per cent to close at 38,816.19, compared with the 39,397.19 achieved on Wednesday.

Market analysts have attributed the lull in the market to profit taking by investors and the economic instability in the financial sector.