By Dipo Olowookere
The stock market in Nigeria appreciated by 0.36 per cent on Tuesday, following the renewed interest in the market by investors, who have started to take a position on some value equities ahead of the earnings season.
Most companies are beginning to announce their closed periods and yesterday, the big banks released information about their forthcoming board meetings for the consideration of their 2020 full-year earnings.
During the trading day, the buying pressure witnessed skyrocketed the market capitalisation by N76 billion to N21.070 trillion from N20.994 trillion and improved the All-Share Index (ASI) by 145.17 points to 40,295.95 points from 40,150.78 points.
Business Post reports that the insurance sector appreciated yesterday by 3.61 per cent, while the industrial goods segment grew by 0.99 per cent, with the consumer goods counter rising by 0.36 per cent. But the banking space lost 0.62 per cent, while the energy index depreciated by 0.05 per cent.
The activity level significantly improved on Tuesday as investors traded 1.2 billion shares worth N8.0 billion executed in 5,591 deals in contrast to the 335.7 million stocks worth N2.5 billion traded in 5,338 deals the previous session, indicating a 247.46 per cent rise in the trading volume, a 220.11 per cent growth in the trading value and a 4.74 per cent spike in the number of deals.
UPDC REIT was the most active stock yesterday with the sale of 775.0 million units valued at N4.2 billion, with Axa Mansard Insurance trailing for the sale of 49.5 million units worth N59.1 million.
Transcorp transacted 44.3 million shares valued at N41.8 million, Japaul traded 29.4 million stocks for N34.0 million, while Sterling Bank exchanged 26.2 million equities worth N51.9 million.
On the price movement list, Dangote Cement occupied the top spot with a price appreciation of N5 to settle at N230 per unit.
Ardova gained N1.75 to close at N19.70 per share, NASCON grew by N1.45 to end at N15.95 per unit, Dangote Sugar rose by 30 kobo to N19.65 per share, while May & Baker improved by 26 kobo to sell at N3.85 per unit.
Conversely, GTBank suffered the heaviest loss on Tuesday, going down by 35 kobo to close at N32.50 per share and was trailed by MTN Nigeria, which went down by 20 kobo to N165 per unit.
Oando depreciated by 20 kobo to N3.50 per share, Julius Berger deflated by 20 kobo to N17.70 per unit, while UBA declined by 10 kobo to trade at N8.80 per share.
Adedapo Adesanya