Equities market advances by N508bn
The equities market on Thursday sustained its bullish trend, as investors investment advanced by N508 billion.
The All Share Index (ASI) gained by 790.59 basis points or 0.75 per cent to close at 106,074.26 basis points.
Also, market capitalisation gained N508 billion or 0.77 per cent to close at N66.667 trillion, largely attributed to the listing of two billion units of Legend Internet on the Nigerian Exchange Group.
The upturn was impacted by gains recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Nestle Nigeria, Lafarge Africa, MTN Nigeria Communications (MTNN), NASCON Allied Industries and Vitafoam Nigeria.
Market breadth was positive, with 45 gainers outpacing 15 decliners. Cadbury Nigeria, Eterna, Ikeja Hotel, Lafarge Africa and Nestle Nigeria recorded the highest price gain of 10 per cent each to close at N24.20, N36.30, N11.00, N79.20 and N1,100.00 respectively, per share.
Vitafoam Nigeria followed with a gain of 9.97 per cent to close at N40.80, while Academy Press up by 9.96 per cent to close at N2.87, per share.
On the other hand, John Holt led the losers’ chart by 10 per cent to close at N6.30, per share. Haldane McCall followed with a decline of 9.96 per cent to close at N24.70, while Multiverse Mining & Exploration declined by 9.83 per cent to close at N7.80, per share.
Guinea Insurance depreciated by 8.57 per cent to close at 64 kobo, while Japaul Gold & Ventures declined by 6.19 per cent to close at N1.97, per share.
Meanwhile, the total volume declined by 55.93 per cent to 328.258 million units, valued at N10.370 billion, and exchanged in 12,142 deals. Transactions in the shares of Access Holdings topped the activity chart with 48.502 million shares valued at N1.163 billion. Fidelity Bank followed with 40.385 million shares worth N801.816 million, while Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) traded 17.101 million shares valued at N1.044 billion.
Chams Holding Company traded 13.741 million shares valued at N30.053 million, while Zenith Bank sold 12.301 million shares worth N556.185 million.
