Equity Market Begins August With N38bn Gain

The equity market on Monday sustained rally for the second trading session to open the month of August on the positive note.

The market performance indices, NSE ASI, appreciated by 0.29 per cent as the market breath closed positive with 19 gainers and 16 losers.

Consequently, the All-Share Index grew by 72.39 basis points or 0.29 per cent from 24,693.73 index points the previous trading session to 24,766.12 while the market capitalisation of equities appreciated by N38bn to close at N12.92tn from N12.88tn.

On the activity chart, premium subsector dominated in volume terms with 47.47m shares exchanged in 1,450 deals. The subsector was enhanced by the activities in the shares of UBA Plc and FBNH Plc.

The banking subsector boosted by the activities on the shares of GTBank Plc and Fidelity Bank Plc followed with 39.96m units traded in 1,032 deals.

In all, investors exchanged a total of 186.48m shares exchanged in 4,718 deals.

Further analysis of the day’s trading showed that Neimeth Pharmaceuticals Plc led the gainers chart with 10 per cent to close at N1.65 per share while Flour Mills Nigeria Plc followed with 9.97 per cent to close at N18.75 per share and UPL Plc with a gain of 9.90 per cent to close at N1.11 per share.

On the flip side, UACN Plc led the losers’ chart with a drop of 10 per cent to close at N6.30 per share.

AIICO Insurance Plc followed with a loss of 9.57 per cent to close at 85 kobo per share while SUNU Assurance Plc dropped by 9.09 per cent to close at 20 kobo per share.