By Dipo Olowookere
It was a positive start for Nigerian stocks on Monday as they appreciated by 0.37 per cent after enduring a string of losses in the past trading sessions.
The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) recorded this growth on the back of renewed bargain hunting in value equities as well as positive investor sentiment. This reflected in the market breadth, which had 31 price gainers and 13 price losers.
According to the price movement chart, Seplat was the best-performing stock as it appreciated by 10 per cent to close at N544.50 per unit.
Japaul improved by 9.86 per cent to trade at 78 kobo per share, Mutual Benefits Assurance gained 9.52 per cent to sell for 46 kobo per unit, AIICO Insurance grew by 9.26 per cent to settle at N1.18 per share, while Multiverse rose by 9.09 per cent to quote at 24 kobo per unit.
For the worst-performing stocks on Monday, Royal Exchange and Conoil topped the table with a 10 per cent decline each to quote at 27 kobo per share and N18.90 per unit respectively.
RT Briscoe depreciated by 9.09 per cent to trade at 20 kobo per share, CHI lost 8.70 per cent to finish at 42 kobo per unit, while Sovereign Trust Insurance fell by 7.69 per cent to 24 kobo per share.
Analysis of the performance of the sectors of the market indicated that only the consumer goods counter recorded a loss as it deflated by 0.03 per cent.
The energy space gained 5.35 per cent, the banking sector appreciated by 1.81 per cent, the insurance industry improved by 1.38 per cent, while the industrial goods index chalked up 0.35 per cent.
Business Post reports that when trading activities were paused for the day at 2:30 pm, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 133.46 points to 40,573.31 points from 40,439.85 points, while the market capitalisation expanded by N70 billion to N21.226 trillion from N21.156 trillion.
It was keenly observed that despite the growth achieved by the market yesterday, the level of activity reduced as investors traded 206.2 million stocks worth N2.2 billion in 4,264 deals compared with the 395.6 million equities worth N5.2 billion transacted last Friday in 5,321 deals.
This signified that the trading volume slipped by 47.87 per cent, the trading value decreased by 58.31 per cent and the number of deals dropped 19.86 per cent.
Zenith Bank dominated the activity chart for trading 21.5 million shares valued at N539.6 million, with Mutual Benefits Assurance trailing after selling 15.0 million units for N6.8 million.
UAC Property transacted 14.8 million stocks worth N12.1 million, Fidelity Bank exchanged 14.7 million shares for N35.9 million, while United Capital exchanged 13.1 million equities valued at N77.8 million.
