Market Capitalisation Inches Up By N21bn On Select Stock Gains

The Nigerian stock market maintained its upward trajectory, with the overall capitalisation inching up by N21 billion.

The All Share Index (ASI) gained by 32.14 points, representing a growth of 0.27 per cent to close at 200,957.89 points. Also, market capitalisation gained N21 billion to close at N128.998 trillion.

The upturn was impacted by gains recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are: Premier Paints, Red Star Express, Zenith Bank, John Holt and Nigerian Breweries.

On market performance, Imperial Asset Managers Limited said, “market sentiment can be described as cautiously positive but internally weakening, as participation and breadth both declined.”

The Firm added that “in the near term, the market is expected to trade mixed, with continued sector rotation into consumer goods and insurance stocks, while profit-taking may persist in banking stocks.

Institutional activity is expected to remain concentrated in high-liquidity stocks such as MTNN, GTCO, and Zenith Bank, which are likely to continue driving overall market direction.”

Market breadth turned negative, with 36 stocks declining and 30 gaining. Premier Paints and Zichis Agro Allied Industries recorded the highest price gain of 10 per cent each to close at N34.10 and N12.54 respectively, while Legend Internet followed with a gain of 9.92 per cent to close at N7.98 per share.

John Holt up by 9.87 per cent to close at N17.25, while McNichols gained 9.76 per cent to close at N6.75 per share.

On the other hand, University Press led the losers’ chart by 9.17 per cent to close at N5.45, per share. SUNU Assurance followed with a decline of 8.88 per cent to close at N4.31, while Veritas Kapital Assurance declined by 6.98 per cent to close at N2.00 per share.

FTN Cocoa Processors depreciated by 6.67 per cent to close at N5.60, while Nigerian Exchange Group declined by 6.46 per cent to close at N168.75 per share.

Also, the total volume traded rose by 26.05 per cent to 678.129 million units, valued at N33.139 billion, and exchanged in 42,222 deals. Transactions in the shares of Access Holdings topped the activity chart with 134.593 billion shares valued at N3.498 billion. Wema Bank followed with 105.514 million shares worth N2.794 billion, while Veritas Kapital Assurance traded 74.146 million shares valued at N147.779 million.

Zichis Agro Allied Industries traded 23.337 million shares valued at N290.802 million, while United Bank for Africa (UBA) sold 18.121 million shares worth N852.539 million.