Equities Extend Rally by 0.45% as Investors Gain N50b

By Dipo Olowookere

The equities market closed on a positive note for the third straight session on Monday, appreciating by 0.45 percent to reduce the year-to-date loss to 4.66 percent.

This came despite the initial loss recorded at the early stage of the day’s session. Also yesterday, the management of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) suspended trading for some hours as a result of a glitch on its system, but resumed later after the issues were resolved and the trading day extended by one hour.

The growth achieved during the session was buoyed by gains recorded by Dangote Cement, which went up by N3 to finish at N180 per share.

It was followed by its industry competitor, Lafarge Africa, which rose by 25 kobo to end at N12.50k per share, and United Capital, which appreciated by 15 kobo to close at N2.98k per share.

Diamond Bank gained 7 kobo to settle at N2.09k per share, while Union Bank grew by 5 kobo to finish at N6.05k per share.

On the flip side, Forte Oil topped the losers’ chart with N1 loss to finish the day at N28 per share, while Guinness Nigeria also went down by N1 to close at N65 per share.

NAHCO declined yesterday by 29 kobo to end at N3.21k per share, Linkage Assurance fell by 6 kobo to settle at 59 kobo per unit, while Zenith Bank fell by 5 kobo to close at N21.80k per share.

During the day’s trading session, the market capitalisation increased by N50 billion to finish at N11.174 trillion, while the All-Share Index (ASI) appreciated by 134.09 points to close at 29,964.79 points.

Despite the gains posted on Monday, the volume of shares traded by investors decreased by 35.82 percent from 206.3 million to 132.4 million, while the value fell by 60.49 percent from N2.8 billion to N1.1 billion.

Diamond Bank emerged the most traded stock at the market yesterday, selling 50.1 million units of its shares worth N103.6 million.

Access Bank exchanged 16.5 million shares worth N92.4 million, while Zenith Bank sold 12.3 million units valued at N268.6 million. Transcorp transacted 9.8 million equities for N12.4 million, while UBA traded 6.7 million shares for N49.9 million.