By Dipo Olowookere
Investors in the nation’s stock market gained N45 billion on Monday as a result of a mild bargain hunting, which lifted the space by 0.21 per cent.
The situation increased the market capitalisation of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) to N21.494 trillion from N21.449 trillion and lifted the All-Share Index (ASI) by 86.97 points to 41,088.96 points from the previous 41,001.99 points.
Business Post reports that the growth witnessed at the market yesterday was as a result of the encouraging performance in the industrial goods and banking sectors, which grew by 0.54 per cent and 0.49 per cent respectively.
The gains achieved by these two sectors overpowered the losses printed by the energy, consumer goods and insurance indices, which fell by 0.80 per cent, 0.72 per cent and 0.58 per cent respectively.
At the close of transactions, Ardova suffered the heaviest loss, declining by N2 to trade at N18.45 per unit and was closely followed by NASCON, which dropped N1 to sell at N16.20 per share.
C&I Leasing lost 57 kobo to end at N5.13 per share, International Breweries declined by 43 kobo to settle at N6.16 per unit, while Unilever Nigeria decreased by 30 kobo to close at N13.20 per share.
On the gainers’ table, Airtel Africa was on top after its share price grew by N3.20 to close at N855 per unit and was trailed by Dangote Cement, which gained N2 to end at N236 per unit.
MRS Oil appreciated by N1.10 to trade at N12.30 per share, Julius Berger rose by 60 kobo to N19.50 per unit, while Lafarge Africa gained 50 kobo to quote at N26.50 per share.
On the activity chart, investors traded 333.1 million shares worth N2.6 billion in 5,640 deals on Monday compared with the 591.5 million stocks worth N5.1 billion traded in 5,767 deals last Friday, representing 43.68 per cent decline in the trading volume, 47.94 per cent decline in the trading value and 2.20 per cent decline in the number of deals.
Transcorp remained the most active stock at the market yesterday with the sale of 49.0 million units valued at N53.3 million.
Axa Mansard Insurance traded 28.0 million stocks for N38.3 million, Fidelity Bank transacted 26.5 million equities worth N72.6 million, UBA exchanged 16.7 million shares valued at N145.9 million, while Zenith Bank traded 15.9 million stocks worth N419.0 million.
