By Dipo Olowookere
The positive momentum triggered last week on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) by the listing of MTN Nigeria Communications Plc continued on Monday.
The equity market appreciated yesterday by 1.74 percent as the rush for the telecoms’ stock further continued.
In fact, the company topped the gainers’ chart with a price appreciation of N10.85k to settle at N119.75k per unit.
It was followed by Dangote Cement, which gained N2 to end at N178 per share, and Guinness Nigeria, which rose by N1.45k to finish at N50.50k per unit.
Dangote Flour increased by 20 kobo to quote at N16.35k per share, while NEM Insurance improved by 16 kobo to settle at N2.36k per unit.
At the other side, Forte Oil dominated the losers’ table with a price depreciation of N2.80k to close at N25.55k per share.
Access Bank dropped 35 kobo of its share value to end at N6.10k per unit, while Lafarge Africa lost 30 kobo to close at N10.20k per share.
ETranzact depreciated by 26 kobo to finish at N2.38k per unit, while Sterling Bank went down by 20 kobo to quote at N2.30k per share.
At the market yesterday, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 501.47 points to settle at 29,373.40 points, the market capitalisation improved by N221 billion to finish at N12.938 trillion.
Business Post reports that the activity level was mixed as the volume of share transacted decreased by 19.94 percent from 267.8 million to 214.4 million, while the value increased by 5.43 percent from N7.5 billion to N7.9 billion.
A further analysis indicated that MTN Nigeria emerged the most traded equity with 51.4 million units worth N6.2 billion.
FBN Holdings traded 17.5 million units valued at N122.3 million, while UBA transacted 17.2 million shares for N103.2 million.
NAHCO sold 15.8 million equities worth N49.9 million, while GTBank exchanged 15.3 million shares valued at N464.5 million.
Adedapo Adesanya