Last Trading Session in November on NSE Closes 0.45% Higher

By Dipo Olowookere

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) appreciated by 0.45 per cent on Monday, which was the last trading session in November 2020.

The growth was boosted by a renewed interest in insurance stocks, though the market breadth ended negative as a result of the 29 price losers and 17 price gainers.

The benchmark index, the All-Share Index (ASI), which started the day at 34,885.51 points, inched up by 156.63 points to settle at 35,042.14 points.

Likewise, the market capitalisation, which measures the total value of equities on the exchange, closed at N18.310 trillion after adding N82 billion to the opening value of N18.228 trillion.

During the session, the trading volume increased by 118.38 per cent to 415.5 million units from 190.3 million in the last session. Also, the trading value grew by 47.05 per cent to N4.9 billion from N3.3 billion, while the number of deal appreciated by 32.47 per cent to 5,267 deals from 3,976 deals.

The most active stock of the day was Multiverse Mining and Exploration, which traded 84.0 million units valued at N16.8 million.

Zenith Bank transacted 47.0 million equities worth N1.1 billion, Transcorp traded 34.1 million shares for N34.3 million, Access Bank exchanged 29.9 million units worth N256.1 million, while Mutual Benefits traded 21.6 million stocks valued at N4.7 million.

The best-performing stock yesterday was Airtel Africa, which gained N53.5 to settle at N588.50 per unit and was trailed by MTN Nigeria, which appreciated by 20 kobo to sell for N155.20 per share.

AIICO Insurance rose by 10 kobo to trade at N1.10 per unit, Union Bank appreciated by 10 kobo to finish at N5.60 per share, while FCMB gained 8 kobo to quote at N3.33 per unit.

For the worst-performing equity, it was GTBank as its value went down by N1.80 to close at N33.20 per share and was trailed by BUA Cement, which lost N1 to trade at N55 per share.

Unilever Nigeria depreciated by 80 kobo to close at N12.95 per share, Northern Nigerian Flour Mills declined by 77 kobo to settle at N6.93 per share, while Fidson dropped 54 kobo to sell at N4.93 per unit.

On the insurance and energy sectors appreciated yesterday by 1.63 per cent and 0.01 per cent respectively as the banking space lost 2.49 per cent, the industrial goods counter dropped 0.68 per cent, while the consumer goods index declined by 0.44 per cent.