Stock Market Advances by N13.5bn on Gains in Guinness, 30 Others

Kayode Tokede 

The Nigerian stock market yesterday closed on a positive note with a gain of N13.5 billion, as buying  in Guinness Nigeria Plc, 30 others advanced the market amid ongoing consolidation following the recent rally.

The Nigerian Exchange Limited All Share Index (NGX ASI) gained by 21.23 basis points or 0.01 per cent to close at 149,459.11 basis points from 149,437.88 basis points it opened for  trading. 

As a result, the NGX ASI Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns settled at +4.1per cent and +45.2per cent,  respectively.

Accordingly, market capitalisation rose by N13.5 billion to close at N95.281 trillion from N95.267 trillion iit closed for trading the previous day.  

The upturn was impacted by gains recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Guinness Nigeria, MeCure Industries, Fidson Healthcare, Eunisell Interlinked and Custodian Investment.

Market sentiment remained positive, with 31 gainers as against 26 losers. Aluminium Extrusion Industries recorded the highest price gain of 10 per cent to close at N9.35, while Guinness Nigeria followed with a gain of 9.98 per cent to close at N263.40, per share.

Multiverse Mining & Exploration and MeCure Industries went up by 9.95 per cent each to close at N12.15 and N45.85 respectively, while Sovereign Trust Insurance appreciated by 9.89 per cent to close at N4.11, per share. 

On the other hand, Haldane McCall led the losers’ chart by 9.93 per cent, to close at N3.72, while LivingTrust Mortgage Bank and Veritas Kapital Assurance followed with a decline of 9.09 per cent each to close at N3.50 and N1.60 respectively, per share.

Linkage Assurance depreciated by 5.71 per cent to close at N1.65 and Champion Breweries declined by 5.63 per cent to close at N13.40, per share.

The total volume traded surged by 85.52 per cent to 1.026 billion units, valued at N21.826 billion, and exchanged in 23,701 deals. Transactions in the shares of Access Holdings topped the activity chart with 358.834 million shares valued at N7.720 billion. Champion Breweries followed with 111.778 million shares worth N817.821 million, while Sterling Financial Holdings Company traded 85.488 million shares valued at N589.876 million.

FCMB Group traded 74.690 million shares valued at N791.468 million, while First Holdco sold 51.923 million shares worth N1.830 billion.

On market outlook, Imperial Asset Managers Limited said, “near-term market sentiment is expected to remain cautiously optimistic, supported by strong year-to-date performance and continued interest in fundamentally sound, liquid stocks. Nonetheless, trading activity may remain rangebound in the short term, as investors focus on stock-specific opportunities while positioning ahead of year-end portfolio rebalancing.”