The Nigerian equities market reopened in an upbeat yesterday, as market capitalisation increased by N51 billion, following gains recorded by many blue-chip stocks.
At the close of trading yesterday, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 93.43 absolute points, representing a growth of 0.20 per cent to close at 47,111.21 points. Similarly, the overall market capitalisation size gained N51 billion to close at N25.457 trillion.
The upturn was impacted by gains recorded in large and medium capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Guinness Nigeria, United Capital, Africa Prudential, May & Baker Nigeria and International Breweries.
On market outlook, GTI Securities Limited said, “Investors remain jittery about the state of the economy and have resolved to study conditions before making aggressive bets.
“This can be seen in tepid market volatility from the past week.
“Barring any significant events, we expect the market activities to maintain its current lukewarm trend, however, it is expected that the week experiences some positivity as investors take positions in stocks yet to release their financial statements.”
Vetiva Dealing and Brokerage in their analysis said: “With market activity centred around select, high-profile names and the measured influx of corporate announcements, we anticipate another positive session tomorrow with the possibility of profit-taking activity on some of today’s gainers.”
Market sentiment, as measured by market breadth, was positive, as 31 stocks appreciated in price while 17 others constituted the losers’ chart. United Capital and R.T. Briscoe Nigeria recorded the highest price gain of 10 per cent each to close at 66 kobo and N13.20 kobo while Africa Prudential followed with a gain 9.56 per cent to close at N7.45 kobo.
Academy Press went up by 9.50 per cent to close at N1.96 kobo. Champion Breweries also appreciated by 8.78 per cent to close at N2.23 kobo.
On the other hand, Juli Plc led the losers’ chart by 9.76 per cent to close at 74 kobo while Multiverse Mining & Exploration followed with a decline of 8.00 per cent to close at 23 kobo. Mutual Benefits Assurance shed 7.14 per cent to close at 26 kobo.
Flour Mills of Nigeria lost 4.56 per cent to close at N33.50 kobo. Honeywell Flour Mills also shed 4.23 per cent to close at N3.85 kobo.
Meanwhile, the total volume traded decreased marginally by 0.76 per cent to 421.458 million units, valued at N4.221 billion, and exchanged in 5,961 deals. Transactions in the shares of Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp) topped the activity chart with 99.258 million shares valued at N118.535 million.
Zenith Bank followed with 46.325 million shares worth N1.248 billion, while United Capital traded 31.575 million shares valued at N416.796 million.
United Bank for Africa traded 26.979 million shares valued at N233.969 million, while Fidelity Bank transacted 23.803 million shares worth N72.425 million.
Guardian