Equity Market Begins New Week With N42bn Gain

Nigerian equity market on Monday sustained its positive outlook as the overall performance measures, NSE ASI and market capitalisation rose further by 0.28 per cent.

The market breath closed positive with 27 gainers against 15 decliners.

Consequently, the All-Share Index grew by 80.91 basis points or 0.28 per cent from 28,697.06 index points last Friday to 28,777.96 while the market capitalisation of equities appreciated by N42bn to close at N15.04tn from N14.99tn.

On the activity chart, the premium sub-sector dominated in volume terms with 119.44 million shares exchanged in 1,538 deals.

The sub-sector was enhanced by the activities in the shares of UBA Plc and Zenith Bank Plc.

The banking sub-sector boosted by the activities in the shares of GTB Plc and Ecobank Plc followed with 80.91 million units traded in 691 deals.

In all, investors exchanged a total of 340.80 million shares exchanged in 4,235 deals.

Further analysis of the day’s trading showed that Custodian and Allied Investment Plc led the gainers with 10 per cent at N5.50 per share while NPF MFB Plc followed with 9.70 per cent to close at N1.47 per share and e-Transact Plc with a gain of 7.73 per cent to close at N1.75 per share.

On the flip side, Morison Plc led the losers’ chart with a drop of 10 per cent to close at 54 kobo per share.

CHI Plc followed with a loss of 8.82 per cent to close at 31 kobo per share while Nascon Plc dropped by 8.39 per cent to close at N13.10 per share.