Equities Extend Gains, Up N295bn

The Nigerian equities market yesterday extended gains from prior’s session by N295 billion on demand for Seplat Energy Plc and 27 others.

The All-Share Index (ASI) gained 519.70 points, representing a gain of 0.53 per cent to close at 98,383.04 points. Also, market capitalisation rose by N295 billion to close at N55.654 trillion.

The upturn was driven by price appreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks amongst which are; Seplat Energy, Dangote Sugar Refinery, NASCON Allied Industries, Nigerian Breweries and PZ Cussons Nigeria.

Investor sentiment, as measured by market breadth, was positive, as 28 stocks gained relative to 14 losers. Dangote Sugar Refinery emerged the highest price gainer of 10 per cent to close at N42.90, while Morison Industries and NASCON followed with a gain of 9.88 per cent each to close at N4.45 and N37.25 respectively, per share.

PZ Cussons Nigeria advanced by 9.60 per cent to close at N21.70, while Transnational Corporation (Transcorp) rose by 8.57 per cent to close at N11.40, per share.

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On the other side, Sovereign Trust Insurance led others on the losers’ chart with 9.52 per cent to close at 38 kobo, per share. Universal Insurance followed with a decline of 8.33 per cent to close at 33 kobo, while The Initiates Plc (TIP) shed 5.00 per cent to close at N1.71, per share.

Lafarge Africa went down by 4.86 per cent to close at N33.30, while Africa Prudential depreciated by 4.32 per cent to close at N6.65, per share.

The total volume traded increased by 31.6 per cent to 559.609 million units, valued at N6.585 billion, and exchanged in 7,990 deals. Transactions in the shares of Abbey Mortgage Bank led the activity with 277.528 million shares worth N682.718 million. Access Holdings followed with account of 81.935 million shares valued at N1.393 billion, while FBN Holdings (FBNH) traded 31.510 million shares valued at N683.950 million.

United Bank for Africa (UBA) traded 21.981 million shares worth N458.449 million, while Zenith Bank traded 13.831 million shares worth N429.570 million.