Market Cap Back to N20trn Amid Interest in Banking Stocks

By Dipo Olowookere

The market capitalisation of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited returned to the N20 trillion region on Tuesday after it grew by N104 billion to settle at N20.027 trillion in contrast to the previous N19.923 trillion.

This was buoyed by a sustained buying interest in banking stocks, which also expanded the All-Share Index (ASI) of the exchange by 198.03 points to 38,418.04 points from 38,220.01 points.

Data obtained by Business Post showed that Fidelity Bank was the most traded stock at the market yesterday with 42.1 million units worth N96.6 million.

FBN Holdings transacted 32.4 million shares worth N242.6 million, UBA exchanged 22.7 million stocks valued at N174.9 million, Access Bank traded 13.8 million equities for N124.7 million, while Wema Bank sold 11.7 million stocks for N8.5 million.

At the close of transactions, a total of 288.9 million shares worth N2.4 billion exchanged hands in 4,540 deals compared with the 282.6 million shares worth N1.9 billion transacted on Monday in 4,788 deals, indicating a 2.23 per cent rise in the trading volume, a 29.40 per cent increase in the trading value and a 5.18 per cent decline in the number of deals.

For the sectoral performance, only the insurance sector was down of the five major counters tracked during the session and it fell by 0.31 per cent.

The oil/gas sector appreciated by 4.90 per cent, the banking index grew by 3.34 per cent, the industrial goods counter rose by 0.08 per cent, while the consumer goods index gained 0.07 per cent.

The market breadth was positive yesterday with 10 price losers and 28 price gainers led by May & Baker, which rose by 9.65 per cent to N4.43.

UAC Property appreciated by 9.57 per cent to N1.03, Total Nigeria gained 9.24 per cent to N158.40, Consolidated Hallmark Insurance improved by 9.23 per cent to 71 kobo, while University Press rose by 9.21 per cent to N1.66.

On the losers’ chart, Eterna claimed the top spot after its equity price went down by 9.73 per cent to N6.77 and was trailed by Linkage Assurance, which fell by 9.41 per cent to 77 kobo.

Unity Bank depreciated by 8.06 per cent to 57 kobo, Coronation Insurance dropped 5.08 per cent to 56 kobo, while Jaiz Bank went down by 1.72 per cent to 57 kobo.