Equities Rebound by 0.67% as Investors Gain N81b

By Dipo Olowookere

Investors in the Nigerian stock market on Tuesday took advantage of the fears created by political tensions in the country to mop up some stocks trading at low prices.

Yesterday, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) had finished in the negative territory as a result of shift in the date of the presidential election as well as the snatch ballot boxes and die statement uttered by President Muhammadu Buhari at his ruling party’s caucus meeting on Monday in Abuja.

At the market today, bargain hunting activity was witnessed as investors take position in anticipation of positives earnings updates.

At the close of business, the local bourse ended 0.67 percent higher as a result of huge interests in bellwether stocks.

Business Post reports that while the All-Share Index (ASI) appreciated on Tuesday by 216.11 points to settle at 32,406.18 points, the market capitalisation increased by N81 billion to end at N12.085 trillion.

Unlike the previous session, the total volume and value of stocks exchanged by investors increased broadly by 55.01 percent and 23.69 percent respectively.

A total of 361.8 million shares worth N4.2 billion were transacted today in 4,627 deals in contrast to the 233.5 million equities traded the previous session 4,135 deals worth 3.4 billion.

The market breadth ended today’s session positive with a total of 16 price gainers as against 14 price losers.

Presco was the highest price gainer during the trading day, appreciating by N2.40k to finish at N75 per share.

Zenith Bank, which released its FY 2018 results today, gained N1.35k to close at N25.35k per share, while GTBank garnered N1.20k to end at N37.70k per unit.

Dangote Sugar increased by 60 kobo to finish at N15.15k per share, while Custodian Investment went up by 50 kobo to settle at N6.55k per share.

At the other side, Mobil Oil topped the losers’ chart after losing N1.80k of its share price to finish at N168.20k per share.

Dangote Cement went down by 80 kobo to settle at N192.50k per share, while Transcorp lost 15 kobo to end at N1.39k per share.

Furthermore, Dangote Flour also declined by 15 kobo to drop to N9.45k per share, while Unity Bank decreased by 11 kobo to close at N1.03k per share.