Stock Market Appreciates by N60bn on Investors Demand for MTN, 36 Others
Kayode Tokede
The stock market yesterday rebounded from prior day’s loss as investors’ demand for MTN Nigeria Communication Plc and 36 others pushed the overall market capitalization up by N60 billion.
As MTN Nigeria gained 3.5 per cent, the Nigerian Exchange Limited All-Share Index (NGX ASI) appreciated by 99.45 basis points or 0.10 per cent to close at 98,206.97 basis points.
Thus, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns settled at +0.7per cent and +31.3per cent, respectively.
Also, market capitalisation rose by N60 billion to close at N59.532 trillion.
On sectors, the NGX Insurance index appreciated by two per cent, NGX Oil & Gas Index gained 1.6per cent and NGX Consumer Goods Index rose by 0.2per cent, while the NGX Industrial Goods Index was down by 0.8 per cent and NGX Banking Index depreciated by 0.2 per cent.
Market breadth closed negative as 37 stocks gained relative to 21 losers. Golden Guinea Breweries emerged the highest price gainer of 9.93 per cent to close at N6.53, per share. Guinea Insurance followed with a gain of 9.80 per cent to close at 56 kobo, while Tantalizer rose by 9.77 per cent to close at N1.46, per share.
Africa Prudential increased by 9.70 per cent to close at N13.00, while ABC Transport added 9.65 per cent to close at N1.25, per share.
On the other side, John Holt led the losers’ chart with 9.96 per cent to close at N7.23, per share. Haldane McCall followed with a decline of 9.91 per cent to close at N5.27, while Morison Industries shed 9.89 per cent to close at N4.01, per share.
Lafarge Africa depreciated by 7.80 per cent to close at N65.00, while UPDC Real Estate Investment Trust down by 5.83 per cent to close at N4.85, per share.
The total volume traded increased by 115.4 per cent to 939.409 million units, valued at N12.814 billion, and exchanged in 9,098 deals. Transactions in the shares of Wapic Insurance led the activity with 457.640 million shares worth N503.806 million. Sterling Financial Holdings Company followed with account of 138.432 million shares valued at N677.466 million, while Japaul Gold & Ventures traded 30.345 million shares valued at N962.568 million.
United Bank for Africa (UBA) traded 28.724 million shares worth N962.568 million, while MTNN traded 24.682 million shares worth N4.321 billion.
