Dangote Cement, GTBank Lift Nigeria's Bourse To Positive Territory

Nigeria's share index gained 0.36 percent on Thursday, lifted by gains in the shares of Dangote Cement and top lender GTBank, data from the Nigerian Stock Exchange shown.

Shares in cement company majorly owned by Africa's richest man Aliko Dangote rose two naira to top gainers' chart, while GTBank share rose by 0.60 naira at the close of market. Dangote Cement closed the day at 192 naira per share while GTBank closed at 33.60 naira a share.

Access Bank, which proposes to merge its operations with middle tier lender Diamond Bank came third on the chart with 0.35 naira gain to close at 6.0 naira.

Access Bank claimed that its proposed merger plans with Diamond Bank will create Africa's largest bank by customer base. The merger is expected to be completed by end of the first quarter of this year.
Top lender, First bank Holdings (FBN Holdings) gained 0.20 naira to close at 7.60 naira while Ikeja Hotel gained 0.15 naira to close at 1.67 naira per share.

The market key index rose by 111.04 points to close at 30,989.60 against 30,878.56 it closed on Wednesday.
The market capitalisation climbed 44 billion naira to close at 11.558 trillion naira, compared with 11.514 trillion naira it closed the previous day.
The market is expected to rally in the medium term, but seeing falling subsequently as investors may likely take profit ahead of next month presidential election.

Nigeria is expected to hold its presidential and senatorial election on February 16, while analysts predicted political risk pushing back the market to negative territory.

Marcel Okeke, a former chief economist at Zenith Bank said political risk could lead to more capital flight from the market as Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) move their funds to developed economies where yields have become attractive.