Equities trading at the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) opened the week on a positive note, extending gains from the previous session as the All-Share Index (ASI) closed 0.35 per cent stronger to close at 52,369.13 basis points.
On Monday, gains in telecommunication heavyweight MTN Nigeria Communication, alongside Zenith Bank and Guaranty Trust Holding Company and GTCO buoyed the markets performance as these high cap stocks appreciated by 0.87 per cent, 1.73 per cent and 2.07 per cent, respectively.
Accordingly, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date return settled at -0.1 per cent and +2.2 per cent, respectively.
Owing to the bullish trading session, equities investors gained N98.66 billion cumulatively as the market capitalisation gained settled at N28.52 trillion by the end of the day’s trading activities.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was also positive, as 31 tickers gained relative to 15 losers. On the performance board, Ikeja Hotels and Academy Press topped the gainers’ list as they appreciated in value by 9.9 per cent and 9.8 per cent, respectively; while NCR and Sovereign Insurance recorded the most significant losses of the day after their respective share prices dipped by 9.7 per cent and 8.9 per cent.
Performance was also bullish across sub-sector gauges tracked as four of the five sub-sector gauges tracked closed in the green zone; the NGX Banking, the NGX Insurance, NGX Consumer Goods, and NGX Industrial indices rose by 0.89 per cent, 1.34 percent, 0.39 per cent, and 0.01 per cent, respectively. However, the NGX Oil/Gas index fell by 0.64 per cent.
However, activities at the local bourse on Monday was tepid as analysis of market activities showed that trade turnover settled lower relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions down by 50.79 per cent.
A total of 315.70 million shares valued at N4.03 billion were exchanged in 5,847 deals. Zenith Bank led the volume and value charts with 53.43 million units traded in deals worth N1.38 billion.
[Tribune]