*Nestle, NB, Guinness all record gains

On the eve of the Christian festival of Christmas, many blue chip firms listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, saw their stocks on the ascent with price gains, perhaps buoyed by a scent of Santa Claus.

Nestle still maintained its price leadership to lead the gainers’ chart and close at N930.22 per share.

Seplat trailed with a gain of N29.93 to close at N322.11, while Dangote Cement up by N18.19 to close at N196.65 per share.

Guinness appreciated by N14.11 to close at N151.87, while Nigerian Breweries rose by N9.23 to close at N160.98 per share.

Despite losses by 7UP, Okomu Oil, UACN, Sterling Bank and Mansard Insurance, the bulls maintained a commanding presence in the market.

The benchmark index appreciated by 5.01% to return 34,428.80 with 3,448.00 deals.

All sub-sectors monitored by the NSE closed in positive terrain except NSEINS

ASI year-to-date currently stands at -13.63% as Market Capitalization hit N11.4trillion threshold, rising N600 billion from the N10.824 billion recorded Tuesday.

Investors staked N3.21 billion on 581.902 million shares in 3,448 deals. The volume of transactions increased by 32.01 per cent over the 440.812 million shares worth N4.12 billion traded in 4,964 deals on Tuesday.

NEM Insurance emerged the most traded stock, accounting for 62.21 million shares valued at N37.98 million in 17 deals.

Diamond Bank came second on the activity chart with 51.38 million shares worth N295.30 million in 46 deals, while Aso Savings accounted for 50.00 million shares valued at N25 million in one deal.