Equities Market Extends Bullish Run As Investors Gain N1.82trn

The local equities market extended its bullish streak in yesterday’s trading session largely influenced by position taking activities from which investors saw approximately N1.822 trillion in gains.
The All-Share Index (ASI) gained 3,330.21 points, representing a gain of 3.93 per cent to close at 87,971.10 points. Also, market capitalisation rose by N1.822 trillion to close at N48.139 trillion.

The upturn was driven by price appreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks amongst which are; Dangote Cement, BUA Cement, Dangote Sugar Refinery, NASCON Allied Industries and Julius Berger.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive, as 77 stocks gained relative to 10 losers. Berger Paints, Dangote Sugar Refinery, Flour Mills of Nigeria, FTN Cocoa processors, Honeywell Flour Mills, Lafarge Africa, NASCON, Nigerian Breweries, Transnational Corporations (Transcorp), Universal Insurance and Sterling Financial Holdings Company emerged the highest price gainer of 10 per cent each to close at N15.40, N81.40, N45.10, N2.20, N4.40, N47.30, N71.50, N41.25, N15.95, 44 kobo and N7.59 respectively, per share.

Unity Bank, Wema Bank and BUA Cement followed with a gain of 9.96 per cent each to close at N2.98, N10.60 and N112.65 respectively; while Jaiz Bank and Consolidated Hallmark Holdings advanced by 9.94 per cent each to close at N3.65 and N1.77 respectively, per share.

On the other side, Royal Exchange led others on the losers’ chart with 8.16 per cent to close at 90 kobo, per share. Multiverse Mining & Exploration followed with a decline of 6.59 per cent to close at N17.00, while Ellah Lakes shed 4.79 per cent to close at N3.38, per share.
Oando lost 3.60 per cent to close at N12.05, while UACN depreciated by 3.13 per cent to close at N15.50, per share.

The total volume traded advanced by 34.8 per cent to 1.09 billion units, valued at N16.05 billion, and exchanged in 14,835 deals. Transactions in the shares of Jaiz Bank led the activity with 150.639 million shares worth N508.443 million. AIICO Insurance followed with account of 99.057 million shares valued at N129.127 million, while FCMB

Group traded 67.597 million shares valued at N814.174 million.
Sterling Financial Holdings Company traded 55.838 million shares worth N417.078 million, while Transcorp traded 48.921 million shares worth N774.642 million.