By Dipo Olowookere
Transactions on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) closed bullish on Monday after bargain hunters stormed the market to deal with the bears, which have held a tight grip on the local bourse for days.
By the time the market closed for the day, it rebounded by 0.09 percent as a result of gains posted by Dangote Cement, Fidson Healthcare, UBA and eight other stocks.
This pushed the All-Share Index (ASI) higher by 23.66 points to settle at 26,557.44 points, and the market capitalisation higher by N11.5 billion to finish at N12.928 trillion.
Dangote Flour was the day’s highest price gainer as its stock rose by 80 kobo to finish at N23 per share, while Dangote Cement also appreciated by 80 kobo to end at N145 per share.
Fidson added 35 kobo to its share value to rise to N3.95 per share, UBA gained 10 kobo to settle at N6 per share, while Axa Mansard also grew by 10 kobo to close at N1.70 per unit.
Business Post reports that a total of eight equities depreciated at the market yesterday, with Global Spectrum Energy Services topping the chart after going down by 50 kobo to end at N4.70 per unit.
It was trailed by UAC Nigeria, which also fell by 50 kobo to finish at N6.65 per share, and Ecobank, which went down by 20 kobo to close at N7.20 per share. FBN Holdings lost 15 kobo to settle at N5.25 per unit, while United Capital depreciated by 10 kobo to close at N2.03 per unit.
A look at the activity level chart showed that the volume of shares traded by investors increased by 9.96 percent to 129.1 million from 117.4 million, while the value of the transactions rose by 82.46 percent to N2.7 billion from N1.5 billion.
A further analysis showed that Global Spectrum Energy Services was the most traded stock, closing with a turnover of 36.6 million units worth N172.0 million, while GTBank followed with 14.5 million shares sold for N387.3 million.
Transcorp exchanged 9.9 million equities valued at N10.0 million, Zenith Bank transacted 8.3 million shares worth N149.8 million, while FCMB exchanged 8.1 million units for N12.9 million.
A deeper look indicated that stocks in the financial services sector led the activity chart with 70.0 million shares worth N707 million, while equities in the services industry followed with 37.0 million units valued at N173 million.
Of the five sub-sectors of the market monitored by Business Post on Monday, the insurance index rose by 1.85 percent, while the industrial goods sector appreciated by 0.20 percent, with the energy index closing flat.
But the banking sector went down by 0.03 percent, while the consumers goods index also depreciated by 0.03 percent.
With the new pricing methodology in place since last Friday, the market is expected to maintain this positive momentum as investors adjust to the new regulations.
