By Dipo Olowookere
The first trading session of the new week on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) closed on a positive note today after trading 0.28 per cent higher.
This was buoyed by a renewed buying pressure as the activity level was higher than the previous session with the trading volume, value and number of deals rising by 20.44 per cent, 25.63 per cent and 43.95 per cent respectively.
A total of 340.8 million shares worth N5.6 billion exchanged hands in 4,235 deals on Monday compared with the 283.0 million equities worth N4.4 billion transacted in 2,942 deals last Friday.
The most traded stock at the market today was GTBank, which transacted 56.8 million units valued at N1.7 billion and was trailed by Zenith Bank, which transacted 47.8 million units worth N1.0 billion.
Wapic Insurance traded 40.1 million shares for N14.8 million, FBN Holdings traded 26.1 million stocks valued at N160.1 million, while UBA transacted 21.8 million equities worth N155.4 million.
On the price movement chart, Flour Mills was the highest price gainer, appreciating by N1.20 to settle at N24.20 per share and was trailed by Dangote Cement, which gained N1 to finish at N152 per share.
Custodian Investment appreciated by 50 kobo to sell for N5.50 per unit, Ecobank rose by 35 kobo to trade at N4.90 per share, while GlaxoSmithKline appreciated by 25 kobo to quote at N5.65 per unit.
On top of the losers’ chart at the close of transactions on Monday was NASCON, which went down by N1.20 to close at N13.10 per share.
International Breweries lost 29 kobo to finish at N6.01 per unit, Dangote Sugar decreased by 10 kobo to trade at N13.70 per share, Morison Industries depleted by 6 kobo to 54 kobo per unit, while NAHCO went down by 5 kobo to N2.05 per share.
Business Post reports that the All-Share Index (ASI) increased today by 80.90 points to settle at 28,777.96 points as against 28,697.06 points of the previous session. In the same vein, the market capitalisation increased by N42 billion to finish at N15.042 trillion versus the previous N15.000 trillion.
A look at the performance of the sectors showed that the best performer was the banking space, which gained 1.01 per cent. The industrial goods counter appreciated by 0.38 per cent, while energy sector grew by 0.07 per cent.
However, the insurance, which is expected to have itself full as a result of the huge destruction in the country last week, depreciated by 0.99 per cent, while the consumer goods space dropped 0.34 per cent.
