Bullish Streak Continues Midweek As Stock Investors Gain N389bn

The Nigerian equities market extended its upward momentum with overall capitalization advancing by N389 billion on sustained buying interest in Banking and select Oil & Gas stocks.

The All-Share Index rose by 562.44 per cent, representing a gain of 0.28 per cent, to close at 202,585.54 points. Similarly, the overall market capitalisation value gained N389 billion to close at N130.404 trillion.

The market positive performance was driven by price appreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks which are; Seplat Energy, Nigerian Exchange Group, Zenith Bank, Guaranty Trust Holding Company and Stanbic IBTC Holdings.

On market outlook, Futureview Group said that “the market may sustain its positive bias in the near term as investors continue to position in fundamentally sound stocks, although intermittent profit-taking could temper the upside.”

Market breadth was broadly negative as 31 decliners outpaced 22 advancers. Universal Insurance recorded the highest price gain of 10 per cent to close at N1.21, per share. Omatek Ventures followed with a gain of 9.78 per cent to close at N2.47, while VFD Group rose by 9.71 per cent to close at N11.30, per share.

CWG appreciated by 9.64 per cent to close at N21.05, while Livestock Feeds rose by 9.56 per cent to close at N7.45, per share.

On the other hand, Fortis Global Insurance led the losers’ chart by 9.92 per cent to close at N1.18, per share. DEAP Capital Management & Trust followed with a decline of 9.85 per cent to close at N5.40, while Chams Holding Company declined by 9.47 per cent to close at N3.06, per share.

Japaul Gold & Venture shed 8.82 per cent to close at N3.10, while International Breweries lost 8.09 per cent to close at N12.50, per share.

However, the total volume of trade decreased by 12.64 per cent to 1.007 billion units, valued at N40.567 billion, and exchanged in 52,723 deals. Transactions in the shares of Access Holdings topped the activity chart with 232.980 million shares valued at N6.060 billion. Fidelity Bank followed with 113.082 million shares worth N2.174 billion, while Wema Bank traded 103.298 million shares valued at N2.688 billion.

Zenith Bank traded 60.641 million shares valued at N6.467 billion, while Chams Holding Company transacted 47.514 million shares worth N154.552 million.