Linkage Assurance, Ardova Lift Stock Market by 0.17%

By Dipo Olowookere

Trading activities on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) turned bullish on Monday as a result of gains posted by Linkage Assurance, Ardova and 23 other equities.

Business Post reports that investor sentiment was positive yesterday as only 14 stocks closed on the losers’ chart.

During the session, which recorded a 0.17 per cent growth, the shares of Linkage Assurance and Ardova rose by 10.00 per cent each to settle at 55 kobo and N14.85 respectively.

Champion Breweries appreciated by 9.52 per cent to sell for N1.84, Oando gained 9.43 per cent to quote at N2.90, while Morison Industries improved by 9.09 per cent to 72 kobo.

At the other end, Meyer lost 10.00 per cent to finish at 45 kobo, Livestock Feeds depreciated by 9.87 per cent to N2.01, SCOA Nigeria lost 9.85 per cent to close at N2.38, Ikeja Hotel fell by 9.48 per cent to N1.05, while NEM Insurance dropped 6.88 per cent to settle at N1.76.

Despite the marginal growth recorded yesterday, the volume of shares, the value of stocks and the number of deals declined by 49.42 per cent, 76.83 per cent and 4.90 per cent respectively.

A total of 297.3 million shares worth N3.2 billion were traded in 4,655 deals compared with the 587.7 million stocks worth N13.6 billion transacted in 4,895 deals at the preceding session.

Zenith Bank was the most traded stock yesterday with the sale of 66.5 million units valued at N1.7 billion, FBN Holdings exchanged 23.5 million shares for N169.5 million, Axa Mansard Insurance traded 21.4 million equities valued at N20.9 million, Guinness Nigeria sold 20.2 million stocks for N4.0 million, while United Capital exchanged 13.6 million shares for N64.1 million.

A look at the sectoral performance showed that the insurance sector grew by 1.26 per cent, the energy sector appreciated by 1.01 per cent, industrial goods space rose by 0.47 per cent, while the consumer goods and banking counters lost 0.06 per cent and 0.03 per cent respectively.

For the All-Share Index (ASI), it increased on Monday by 64.96 points to 39,396.57 points from 39,331.61 points, while the market capitalisation grew by N34 billion to N20.613 trillion from N20.579 trillion.