Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
Transactions on Custom Street, Lagos remained bullish on Monday as investors renewed their appetite for the mopping up of some stocks that could fetch them good yields in some days to come.
Business Post reports that the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) closed the first trading day of this week 0.14 percent higher yesterday to reduce the year-to-date loss to 12.30 percent from 12.42 percent of the previous session.
The gains printed by the market yesterday was majorly influenced 22 stocks, which spread across the main sectors in focus. At the close of business, the consumer goods sector emerged the highest gainer with 3.12 percent, while the industrial goods industry followed with an appreciation of 1.45 percent.
The banking index rose by 0.94 percent on Monday, the insurance index appreciated by 0.44 percent, while the oil and gas index improved by 0.18 percent.
It was observed that the positive performance started last week by Nestle Nigeria continued yesterday, as the company’s stock went up by N74 to settle at N1319 per unit, closing as the day’s highest price gainer.
CCNN increased its share value by N1.55k to close at N17.40k per share, Unilever Nigeria improved by 95 kobo to end at N29.45k per share, UBA grew by 35 kobo to finish at N6.20k per share, while Zenith Bank also appreciated by 35 kobo to close at N17.55k per unit.
At the other side, it was not a good trading day for MTN Nigeria, Dangote Cement and 15 other equities at the market as the telco giant topped the decliners’ table after shedding N2.50k to close at N138.50k per share.
Dangote Cement, which trailed, went down by N2 to finish at N160 per share, while UAC Nigeria depreciated by 50 kobo to end at N4.50k per unit.
In addition, Dangote Sugar also went down by 50 kobo to settle at N8.50k per unit, while Africa Prudential declined by 37 kobo to close at N3.63k per share.
Despite the positive performance of the market on Monday, the level of activity remained low as reflected in the volume and value of equities transacted by investors on the floor of the NSE.
Business Post reports that the volume of shares exchanged yesterday declined by 13.28 percent to 108.2 million units from 124.8 million achieved in the previous session, while the value decreased by 18.54 percent to N1.5 billion from N1.8 billion.
A further analysis of the activity log showed that investors were attracted to shares of Zenith Bank and at the close of transactions, 16.2 million units of the bank’s equities valued at N283.9 million were mopped up at the market.
It was followed by UBA, which transacted 14.0 million shares worth N86.0 million, and FBN Holdings, which exchanged 13.6 million equities for N64.8 million. UAC Nigeria sold 7.8 million shares worth N35.9 million at the market on Monday, while GTBank traded 5.2 million units for N141.1 million.
By the time the market was closed on Monday afternoon, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 39.33 points to settle at 27,565.14 points, while the market capitalization went up by N19.1 billion to finish at N13.410 trillion.
