Oil, Gas Firms Lead As Stock Investors Gain N94bn

Oil and gas firms led the upturn in the stock market on Monday as investors gained N94.04bn at the end of trading on the floor of Nigerian Exchange Limited.

The NGX All-Share Index appreciated by 0.47 per cent on Monday closing at 38,849.08 basis points from 38,667.90 earlier.

The market capitalisation of equities rose from N20.15tn on Friday to N20.24tn at the end of trading on Monday.

The total volume of shares traded rose by 7.08 per cent from 230.25 million shares valued at N2.31bn exchanged in 4,135 deals last Friday to 246.56 million shares worth N2.24bn traded in 4,676 deals.

The oil and gas index saw the highest gain as it rose by 2.20 per cent to 371.14 basis points while the insurance index declined by a total of 0.40 per cent.

Compared to 31 gainers and 12 losers during the last trading day, 29 firms saw their share prices rise while 16 dropped in market value as trading ended on Monday.

Three of the top five gainers were from the oil and gas industry with Oando Plc leading the pack with an increased of 9.82 per cent to close at N4.36 per share.

FTN Cocoa Processors Plc followed closely as it rose by 9.76 per cent to close at N0.45 per share.

Ardova Plc gained 9.75 per cent, BOC Gases Plc rose by 9.74 per cent while Livestock Feeds Plc appreciated by 9.64 per cent.

Four of the top losers operate in the Insurance sector. Universal Insurance Plc saw the biggest loss as its share price dropped by 9.09 per cent to close the day at N0.20. Linkage Assurance Plc came second with a decrease of 7.14 per cent to close at N0.65 per share.

Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc (-6.90 per cent), Africa Prudential Plc (-6.52 per cent) and Regency Assurance Plc (-6.25 per cent) were the other top losers on Monday.

Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc was the most traded stock by value at N378.32m worth of its shares while Fidelity Bank led trading volumes at 30.54 million shares by the close of trading.