MTN, Zenith Bank Drive Stock Market’s 0.35% Growth

By Dipo Olowookere

The domestic stock market sustained its positive momentum on Tuesday with a 0.35 per cent growth driven by gains in MTN Nigeria, Zenith Bank, Lafarge Africa, Global Spectrum Energy Services and others.

Though the bears made frantic efforts to take control of the market, the bulls slightly maintained dominance at the close of transactions as 16 equities finished stronger while 15 stocks closed in the red zone.

Global Spectrum Energy Services recorded the highest price appreciation yesterday after its value jumped by 10.00 per cent to N2.75, Jaiz Bank appreciated by 7.95 per cent to 95 kobo, Japaul rose by 6.67 per cent to 32 kobo, GlaxoSmithKline gained 5.11 per cent to sell for N7.20, while UAC Nigeria improved by 4.55 per cent to N11.50.

Conversely, Cutix ended the trading day on top of the price losers’ log after it went down by 10.00 per cent to N2.61, Cadbury Nigeria deflated by 5.93 per cent to N16.65, FTN Cocoa declined by 5.56 per cent to 34 kobo, Coronation Insurance fell by 4.76 per cent to 40 kobo, while Honeywell Flour went down by 4.55 per cent to N3.15.

Business Post reports that the insurance and consumer goods sectors were down by 0.37 per cent and 0.26 per cent respectively on Tuesday, while the banking and industrial goods counters improved by 0.29 per cent and 0.04 per cent apiece, with the energy index closing flat.

As for the key performance indicator, the All Share Index (ASI), it was up by 184.42 points to 53,270.88 points from 53,086.46 points, while the market capitalisation climbed higher by N10 billion to N28.719 trillion from N28.619 trillion.

Unlike the previous day, trading activities on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited were quiet yesterday with investors trading 234.6 million stocks, 68.95 per cent lower than the 755.6 million stocks transacted a day earlier.

Similarly, the value of equities traded by market participants went down by 69.16 per cent to N2.8 billion from N8.9 billion, while the number of deals decreased by 1.51 per cent to 4,232 deals from 4,297 deals.

Transcorp was the busiest stock during the session, trading 30.4 million units for N37.2 million, UBA exchanged 25.8 million units valued at N201.3 million, Chams sold 20.5 million units for N4.9 million, NGX Group traded 18.5 million units worth N460.0 million, while Fidelity Bank transacted 17.5 million units valued at N59.4 million.