Following renewed buying interest in the shares of Dangote Cement and six others, the stock market reversed eight days losing streak to close upbeat, as the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 0.78 per cent.
Yesterday, the ASI expanded by 318.29 absolute points, representing an increase of 0.78 per cent to close at 41,014.30 points while the overall market capitalisation gained N166 billion to close at N21.456 trillion.
The upturn was driven by price appreciation in large and medium value stocks amongst which were; Dangote Cement, Mutual Benefits Assurance, Sovereign Trust Insurance, Vitafoam Nigeria, and Unilever Nigeria.
Analysts at Afrinvest Limited said: “For the week, we expect the equities market to close in the red.”
Sentiment, as measured by market breadth, was negative, as 46 stocks lost, relative to seven gainers. Dangote Cement recorded the highest price gain of 7.04 per cent to close at N228.00, per share.
Mutual Benefits Assurance followed with a gain of 5.41 per cent to close at 39 kobo, while Sovereign Trust Insurance appreciated by 3.70 per cent to close at 28 kobo, per share.
Vitafoam Nigeria rose 3.33 per cent to close at N9.30, and Unilever Nigeria appreciated by 2.57 per cent to close at N13.95 kobo.
On the other hand, Linkage Assurance and Livestock Feeds led the losers’ chart by 10 per cent each, to close at 54 kobo and N2.25, while Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) followed with a decline of 9.96 per cent to close at N2.08 kobo, per share.
Northern Nigeria Flour Mills (NNFM) lost 9.88 per cent to close at N7.02, and Portland Paints & Products Nigeria shed 9.84 per cent to close at N2.84 kobo.
The total volume traded rose by 247.4 per cent to 1.274 billion shares, worth N6.397 billion, and traded in 6,573 deals.
Transactions in the shares of Living Trust Mortgage Bank, formerly Omoluabi Mortgage Bank topped the activity chart with 796.454 million shares valued at N493.801 million. Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp) followed with 55.749 million shares worth N50.535 million, while FBN Holdings traded 51.939 million shares at N364.509 million.
United Bank for Africa traded 48.776 million shares valued at N380.208 million, and Zenith Bank transacted 37.105 million shares worth N885.3 million.
