Commencing trading activities yesterday after the Eid-ul-Mawlid holiday, the stock market of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) gained N116.05billion in market capitalisation primarily driven by a rally in BUA Cement Plc.
As investors gained N116.05 billion in value as market capitalisation went up to N25.908 trillion, the All Share Index (ASI) rose by 214.49 basis points or 0.45 per cent to close at 47,55.92 basis points.
The upturn was impacted by gains recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; BUA Cement, Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX Group), May & Baker Nigeria, United Bank for Africa (UBA) and United Capital.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative, as 15 stocks lost relative to 12 gainers. May & Baker Nigeria recorded the highest price gain of 9.76 per cent to close at N4.05, per share. Ikeja Hotel followed with a gain 9.73 per cent to close at N1.24, while BUA Cement went up by 8.65 per cent to close at N56.50, per share.
Cornerstone Insurance went up by 8.00 per cent to close at 54 kobo, while Unity Bank appreciated by 7.32 per cent to close at 44 kobo, per share. On the other hand, University Press led the losers’ chart by 8.54 per cent to close at N1.50, per share. Cadbury Nigeria followed with a decline of 6.94 per cent to close at N11.40, while FTN Cocoa processors went down by 6.67 to close at 28 kobo, per share.
Caverton Offshore Support Group lost 5.94 per cent to close at 95 kobo, while Cutix shed 4.63 per cent to close at N2.06, per share.
The total volume of trades declined by 8.5 per cent to 125.65 million units, valued at N1.90 billion, and exchanged in 4,188 deals.
Transactions in the shares of Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) topped the activity chart with 38.865 million shares valued at N659.095 million. FBN Holdings (FBNH) followed with 22.827 million shares worth N216.872 million, while Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp) traded 9.608 million shares valued at N10.075 million.
NGX Group traded 6.275 million shares valued at N134.527 million, while Chams transacted 5.307 million shares worth N1.448 million.
This week, United Capital Plc expected continued bearish sentiment to dominate the market, given the high-yield environment. However, investors will continue to hunt growth stocks.
Thisday