By Nse Anthony-Uko
(Sundiata Finance) — The Nigerian equities market, on Monday began the week gaining 1.41 per cent and also extended bullish rally to four consecutive trading sessions on high capitalised stocks.
In summary, the All Share Index (ASI) gained 511.00 absolute points, representing a growth of 1.41 per cent to close at 36,3831.93 points. Similarly, the market capitalisation gained N176 billion, to close at N12.678 trillion.
The upturn was impacted by gains recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Total Nigeria, Nestle, Nigerian Breweries, International Breweries and Guaranty Trust Bank.
Analysts at APT Securities and Funds Limited noted that “ The positive outlook of the market for the past few days should seem enticing to some investors and as such, we expect an inevitable spike in the number of equities market investors if such a form is sustained.”
Similarly, market breadth closed positive, recording 27 gainers against 21 losers. May and Baker recorded the highest price gain of 7.63 per cent, to close at N2.82 per share. International Breweries and Sterling Bank followed with a gain of five per cent, each to close at N39.90 and N1.05, per share, respectively.
Total Nigeria appreciated by 4.98 per cent, to close at N253, while Flourmill went up by 4.97 per cent, to close at N27..87 per share.
On the other hand, AG Leventis led the losers’ chart by 4.84 per cent, to close at 59 kobo per share. Diamond Bank followed with a decline of 4.55 per cent to close at N1.05, while Nahco depreciated by 4.40 per cent to close at N3.26 per share.
Linkage Assurance declined by four per cent, to close at 72 kobo and Unity Bank declined by 3.64 per cent to close at 53 kobo per share.
However, the total volume traded appreciated by 28.55 per cent to 262.17 million shares, worth N2.996 billion, and traded in 4,283 deals. Transactions in the shares of Diamond Bank topped the activity chart with 76.25 million shares valued at N80.29 million. Access Bank followed with 28.14 million shares worth N275.72 million, while Zenith Bank traded 23.67 million shares valued at N594.97 million.
FBN Holdings traded 15.72 million shares valued at N95.33 million, while Transcorp sold 13.44 million shares worth N18..1 million.