Business

Benchmark index adds 0.97% as equities investors earn N355.5bn

At the Nigerian Exchange Limited on Monday, equities trading opened the week with a rebound in the All Share Index, up 0.97 per cent to settle at 67,101.33 basis points.

Basically, investors interest in industrial heavyweight, BUA Cement, alongside Lafarge Africa and Nigerian Breweries were the primary drivers of the overall market’s positive performance as the bellwethers appreciated in share value by 10.0 per cent, 0.17 per cent and 9.09 per cent, respectively.

Accordingly, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns advanced to 1.1 per cent and 30.9 per cent, respectively.

Equities investors, therefore, gained N355.46 billion to their investment worth as the market capitalization settled at N36.87 trillion.

As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive, as 26 tickers gained relative to 23 losers. On the performance board, BUA Cement and Consolidated Hallmark Insurance recorded the highest gains of the day after their respective share value appreciated by 10 per cent, respectively, while Prestige Insurance and FTN Cocoa Processors topped the losers’ list after their share value dipped by 10.0 per cent and 8.3 per cent, respectively.

Performance across the sectors was broadly positive as the Industrial Goods, Insurance, Consumer Goods and Oil & Gas indices printed gains by 4.0 per cent, 1.2 per cent, 0.8 per cent and 0.4 per cent, respectively while the Banking index was the sole loser of the day.

Despite the overall bullish outing, activities at the local bourse on Monday were tepid as analysis of market activities showed trade turnover settled lower relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions down by 61.23 per cent.

A total of 268.66 million shares valued at N3.46 billion were exchanged in 6,911 deals. Access Holdings led the volume and value chart with 29.17 million units traded in deals worth N465.98 million.

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