Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
The All-Share Index (ASI) of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) jumped to 27,554.49 points on Monday from 26,985.77 points it closed last Friday after appreciating by 568.72 points.
Also, the market capitalisation increased yesterday by N297 billion to finish at N14.402 trillion as against N14.105 trillion it ended at the previous session.
Business Post reports that the 2.11 per cent growth achieved at the market during the session was influenced by the continued demand for Zenith Bank shares.
On Monday, the tier-one lender traded 204.7 million units of its stocks valued at N3.8 billion to emerge the most traded equity of the session.
Sterling Bank trailed with the sale of 55.2 million units worth N71.3 million, UBA exchanged 51.3 million shares for N328.9 million, GTBank transacted 36.3 million stocks valued at N1.1 billion, while Transcorp sold 35.1 million equities for N21.0 million.
At the close of transactions, the trading volume rose by 131.98 per cent to 603.9 million shares from 260.3 million, while the trading value grew by 158.55 per cent to N7.4 billion from N2.9 billion, with the number of deals rising by 66.04 per cent to 5,984 from 3,604.
The market breadth closed positive yesterday with 36 price gainers and 10 price losers and the risers’ gang was led by Airtel Africa, which gained N20.20 to finish at N400.20 per share.
Seplat appreciated by N10 to settle at N410 per unit, MTN Nigeria improved its share price by N5 to trade at N135 per unit, Presco appreciated by N2 to close at N55 per share, while Guinness Nigeria gained N1 to sell for N15 per share.
The biggest price loser of the trading day was Nigerian Breweries, going down by 20 kobo to N48.80 per unit and was closely followed by Oando, which also fell by 20 kobo to N2.09 per unit.
Union Bank declined by 10 kobo to N4.90 per share, UAC Property depreciated by 6 kobo to 86 kobo per share, while UAC Nigeria declined by 5 kobo to N6.45 per share.
A look at the sectorial performance on Monday showed that the banking sector was the best performer, appreciating by 3.37 per cent, while the insurance sector gained 2.04 per cent.
The energy space grew by 0.84 per cent, while the consumer goods and industrial goods counters improved by 0.38 per cent each.
