Stock Market Advances With N16bn After First Weeekly Loss

The equity market, on Monday, returned to positive territory as the Nigerian Stock Exchange All-Share Index and market capitalisation rose by 0.08 per cent.

The market breadth closed on a positive note with 28 gainers against 24 decliners.

The ASI grew by 30.56 basis points or 0.08 per cent from 40,120.22bps last Friday to 40,150.78bps on Monday while the market capitalisation of equities appreciated by N16bn to close at N20.99tn from N20.98tn.

On the activity chart, the insurance subsector dominated in volume terms with 153.12 million shares exchanged in 373 deals. The subsector was enhanced by the activities in the shares of Mutual Benefits Assurance Plc and AXA Mansard Insurance Plc.

The premium subsector was boosted by the activities in the shares of Zenith Bank Plc and Lafarge Africa Plc, with 57.07 million units traded in 1,603 deals.

In all, investors exchanged a total of 335.69 million shares exchanged in 5,338 deals on Monday.

Further analysis of the day’s trading showed that ARDOVA Plc and May & Baker Plc led the gainers with 9.79 per cent each to close at N17.95 and N3.59 per share respectively.

Berger Paints Plc followed with 9.52 per cent to close at N8.05 per share while Japaul Gold Plc appreciated by 9.28 per cent to close at N1.06 per share.

On the other hand, Cutix Plc led the losers’ chart with a drop of 10 per cent to close at N2.16 per share.

BOC Gases Plc followed with a loss of 9.96 per cent to close at N11.59 per share while Caverton Plc dropped by 7.07 per cent to close at N1.84 per share.