Equities Begin Week in Green, Gain N16bn

By Dipo Olowookere

Transactions kicked off on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) yesterday on a positive note, reversing the downtrend recorded last Friday.

The equity market ended 0.11 percent higher on Monday as more earnings of quoted companies continue to flood the market, reducing the year-to-date loss to 11.07 percent.

The All-Share Index (ASI), which is the main gauge of the market performance, went up yesterday by 31.77 points to finish at 27,950.36 points, while the market capitalisation increased by N16 billion to settle at N13.622 trillion.

Gains yesterday were mainly buoyed by the performance of Nestle Nigeria and other stocks. The beverage giant appreciated on Monday by N10 to close at N1310 per share.

It was followed by Dangote Flour, which rose by N1.65k to close at N19.60k, and C&I Leasing, which gained 50 kobo to finish at N5.50k per unit.

Vitafoam appreciated by 37 kobo to end at N4.09k per share, while GTBank improved by 25 kobo to quote at N28.70k per unit.

Conversely, Total Nigeria led the losers’ table on Monday after losing N12.70k of its share value to finish at N114.80k per share, while Ecobank followed with a 45 kobo loss to end at N8 per unit.

NCR Nigeria went down by 20 kobo to settle at N5.80k per unit, Access Bank depreciated by 15 kobo to exchange at N6.40k per share, while May and Baker Nigeria fell by 10 kobo to quote at N2.30k per share.

Business Post reports that the activity chart yesterday was not impressive as the volume and value of shares traded by investors went down by 28.84 percent and 58.05 percent respectively.

A total of 93.1 million equities worth N1.1 billion exchanged hands on Monday compared with the 130.9 million stocks valued at N2.6 billion transacted on Friday.

Zenith Bank was the most traded equity yesterday, selling a total of 11.3 million units valued at N208.3 million, with Transcorp trailing with 10 million shares worth N9.9 million.

LASACO exchanged 8 million units for N2.9 million, GTBank traded 6.9 million equities worth N196.6 million, while Access Bank transacted 6.3 million shares for N40.7 million.