Equities market ends the month on positive run

September 30, 2020

The local bourse remained positive after the day’s session, on Wednesday, to close the month of September with 0.9 per cent appreciation in the equities market indicators.

Specifically, the All-Share Index (ASI) of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) advanced by 0.85 per cent to settle at 26,831.76 basis points amid sustained bargain hunting activity even as the Exchange recorded 20 gainers as against eight losers at the close of the trading session.

Accordingly, the Month-to-Date gain increased to 5.9 per cent while the Year-to-Date loss was marginal at 0.02 per cent, as interest in the stocks of Dangote Cement, MTN Nigeria and Guaranty Trust Bank contributed largely to the positive trading session, after their shares gained 2.8 per cent, 1.3 per cent and 3.7 per cent, respectively.

Of the five indices tracked, four closed in green except the NSE Consumer Goods Index which fell by 1.66 per cent. The NSE Banking, NSE Insurance, NSE Oil/Gas and NSE Industrial indices rose by 1.93 per cent, 0.31 per cent, 0.05 per cent and 1.40 per cent respectively.

Meanwhile, Dangote Sugar listed additional 146,878,241 ordinary shares amid its merger with Savannah Sugar Company Ltd. Despite the new listing, the total volume and value of stocks traded still declined by 21.87 per cent and 10.80 per cent to 322.7 million units and N4.04 billion and exchanged in 4,046 deals.

Sterling Bank was the most traded stock by volume at 83.69 million units while Dangote Cement was the most traded stock by value at N1.20 billion.