Nigerian Equities Close Slightly Higher on Oil Stocks’ Rally

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

Oil stocks lifted the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) from the danger zone on Monday, putting a stop to the two-day losing streak.

Gains recorded by shares in the sector were enough to slightly push the NSE to the green territory, appreciating marginally by 0.06 percent.

The All-Share Index (ASI) gained 22.04 points to settle at 36,484.30 points, while the market capitalisation increased by N7.6 billion to finish at N12.6 trillion.

Despite the market closing positive today, the mood was quiet as investors remained cautious of various factors staring at the stock market.

At the close of business on Monday, the volume and value of shares transacted on the floor of the NSE depreciated by 30.3 percent and 39.4 percent respectively.

Business Post reports that a total of 175 million shares worth N1.8 billion were traded by investors today in 3,401 deals against 250.9 million shares valued at N3 billion exchanged last Friday in 3,968 deals.

Though energy stocks lifted the stock market today, financial stocks dominated the most traded equities chart in terms of volume.

FBN Holdings sold 26.5 million shares for N162.1 million, while Diamond Bank traded 26.2 million shares at N27.5 million.

UBA exchanged 16.1 million shares worth N151.9 million at the market today, while Zenith Bank transacted 15.6 million units worth N401.4 million, and Transcorp sold 14.8 million shares for N20.2 million.

On the price movement chart, Total Nigeria added N7.25k to its share value to settle at N240 per share, while Forte Oil gained N2.70k to close at N40.99k per share.

Dangote Flour increased by 84k to finish at N9.8k per share, Cadbury chalked up 45k to close at N11 per share, and Ecobank expanded by 44k to end at N17.49k per share.

On the flip side, Seplat lost N10 of its share price on Monday to depreciate to N480 per share, while Lafarge declined by N2 to finish at N50 per share.

Nigerian Breweries fell by 50k to close at N151.50k per share, Dangote Sugar tripped by 30k to finish at N14.90k per share, and NASCON went down by 7k to settle at N15.87k per share.