Trading activities at the Nigerian equities market yesterday ended on a positive note, to halt the two consecutive trading losses, as market capitalisation gained N14 billion on investors interest in Lafarge Africa, Zenith Bank and 15 others.
The positive performance was driven by investors’ buy-interests in Industrial Goods, Banking and Consumer Goods stocks.
In summary, the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) All-Share Index (ASI) grew by 25.99 basis points, representing an increase of 0.07 per cent, to close at 39,460.68 basis points from 39,434.69 basis points.
Consequently, the overall market capitalisation value gained N14 billion to close at N20.560 trillion from N20.546trillion the market opened for trading.
Thus, Month-to-Date gain increased to +2.4 per cent, while Year-to-Date loss moderated to –two per cent.
On sectors, the Insurance (-0.4 per cent) and Oil & Gas (-0.2 per cent,) indices declined while the Industrial Goods (+0.1 per cent,), Banking (+0.1 per cent,) and Consumer Goods (+0.1%) indices recorded gains.
The market positive performance was driven by price appreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks which are; Lafarge Africa, Zenith Bank, Dangote Sugar Refinery, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) and Morison Industries Plc.
However, the market breadth closed negative, recording 17 gainers as against 18 losers. Morison Industries recorded the highest price gain of 10 per cent to close at N1.54, per share. Regency Alliance Insurance followed with a gain 9.52 per cent to close at 46 kobo, while Tripple Gee & Company went up by 9.09 per cent to close at 96 kobo, per share.
Consolidated Hallmark Insurance rose by 8.51 per cent to close at 51 kobo, while Jaiz Bank gained 6.90 per cent to close at 62 kobo, per share. On the other hand, FTN Cocoa Processors led the losers’ chart by 9.09 per cent to close at 40 kobo, per share. Courteville Business Solutions followed with a decline of 8.82 per cent to close at 31 kobo, while Sovreign Trust Insurance lost eight per cent to close at 23 kobo, per share.
UAC of Nigeria (UACN) lost 6.55 per cent to close at N10.70, while Multiverse Mining and Exploration shed 4.76 per cent to close at 20 kobo, per share.
The total volume of trades declined by 6.9 per cent to 196.808 million units, valued at N1.454 billion, and exchanged in 3,881 deals.
Transactions in the shares of Courteville Business Solutions topped the activity chart with 22.446 million shares valued at N7.335 million. Sovereign Trust Insurance followed with 21.314 million shares worth N5.074 million, while Wema Bank traded 16.944 million shares valued at N14.594 million.
United Bank for Africa (UBA) traded 15.538 million shares valued at N11.694 million, while FBN Holdings (FBNH) transacted 10.838 million shares worth N80.631 million.
Analysts at Afrinvest Limited said that “In the next trading session, we expect to see mild gain driven by strategic positioning in bellwether Banking stocks, as first half (H1), 2021 earnings release deadline nears crescendo.”
