Stock Market Opens Week Positive, Gains N412bn

Nigerian equities yesterday opened the week strong with a gain of N412 billion on demand in Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc and 38 others.

The All-Share Index (ASI) gained 751.95 points, representing a gain of 1.11 per cent to close at 68,279.14 points. Also, market capitalisation rose by N412 billion to close at N37.370 trillion.

The upturn was driven by price appreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks amongst which are; Dangote Sugar Refinery, NASCON Allied Industries, BUA Foods, Stanbic IBTC Holdings and Zenith Bank.

This week, United Capital Plc said: “we expect to continue seeing the bulls dominate the local bourse. Investors will continue cherry-picking activities around fundamentally sound stocks with potential upsides, as recent corporate disclosures indicate.

“In addition, we envisage investors to begin to take positions in the market in anticipation of the earnings release of Tier-one banks in the coming weeks. Furthermore, our expectation of a low-rate fixed-income environment within the week would further catalyse the bull run.”

Market breadth closed positive as 39 stocks gained relative to 19 decliners. DAAR Communications, Dangote Cement, MRS Oil Nigeria, Dangote Sugar Refinery emerged the highest price gainer of 10 per cent to close at N66.55, per share. NASCON Allied Industries followed with a gain of 9.98 per cent to close at N61.15, while John Holt advanced by 9.92 per cent to close at N1.44, per share.

Oando appreciated by 9.91 per cent to close at N6.10, while LASACO Assurance up by 9.60 per cent to close at N2.17, per share. On the other side, Consolidated Hallmark Insurance led others on the losers’ chart with 9.57 per cent to close at N1.04, per share. Cornerstone Insurance followed with a decline of 9.29 per cent to close at N1.27, while SUNU Assurance shed 9.09 per cent to close at 80 kobo, per share.

UPDC Real Estate Investment Trust lost 8.22 per cent to close at N3.35, while Nigerian Exchange Group depreciated by 7.20 per cent to close at N24.50, per share.

The total volume of trades increased by 67.88 per cent to 845.681 million units, valued at N13.040 billion, and exchanged in 11,934 deals. Transactions in the shares of Regency Alliance Insurance led the activity with 100.984 million shares worth N40.392 million. Fidelity Bank followed with 85.144 million shares valued at N695.028 million, while Zenith Bank traded 75.411 million shares valued at N2.798 billion.

United Bank for Africa (UBA) traded 60.215 million shares worth N930.201 million, while Transnational Corporation (Transcorp) traded 56.814 million shares worth N407.419 million.