This week’s first trading day saw investors gain N70 billion, which gave the Nigerian Exchange Limited a positive start.
The Punch reported that the stocks of AccessCorp, United Bank for Africa, Zenith Bank, First Bank of Nigeria Holdings, and MTN Nigeria were the main drivers of the local exchange’s trend.
The value added to the market capitalization and the All-Share Index both closed higher by 0.18 percent. With a closing value of 71,669.91 points, the market capitalization of ASI was N39.218 trillion.
Transaction volume increased to 375.32 million units at market close from 503.84 million trades valued at N3.8 billion from 7,011 deals. The quantity of stocks that traders engaged in during the session stood at 121.
There were 23 losers and 30 winners in the positive market breadth, which is a gauge of investor sentiment. Gainers include Ecobank Transnational Corporation, which closed at N22.80 after gaining 9.88 percent, and SFS Real Estate Investment Trust, which gained 9.98 percent to close at N101.35 per unit.
Other stocks that saw price increases were DEAP Capital Management & Trust Plc, which closed at N0.67 per unit after gaining 9.84 percent, SCOA Nigeria Plc, which closed at N1.43 percent, and Infinity Trust Mortgage Bank, which closed at N1.94 per unit after gaining 9.60 percent.
RT Briscoe, on the other hand, saw a 9.68% decline to close at N0.56 per unit. NEM Insurance Plc lost 9.32% to close at N0.55, while the shares of Secure Electronic Technology Plc lost 9.33% to close at N0.68. Other losers of the day included UPDC Real Estate Investment Trust, which closed at N4.60 per unit, and Northern Nigeria Flour Mills, which closed at 8.44 percent per unit.
In terms of volume and value, banking stocks were the main drivers of trade; in 504 deals, AccessCorp exchanged 30.36 million of its shares for N612 million. After that, N446 million worth of shares from Zenith Bank were traded in 356 transactions. A total of 9.99 million GTCO shares were purchased by investors for N391m, while UBA saw 12.87 million units worth N291.32m exchanged in 419 deals.
The telecom behemoth MTN Nigeria saw 279 trades of 1.07 million of its N256 million worth of shares.
