Equities market halts losses as investors gain N521bn

At the end of trading at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX), equity investors gained N512 billion on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) as the local bourse stopped three straight days of losses that plunged key performance indicators down.

The NGX recovery was supported by renewed buying interest in recently moderated medium and large cap stocks, such as Ellah Lakes, Honeywell Flour Mills, AIICO Insurance, Transnational Corporation, among others across major sectors.

Specifically, the All-share index added 823.67 basis points or 0.6 percent to close at 138,980.83 bps. Hence, stock market Capitalisation surged by N521.15 billion to N87.94 trillion.

Following the overall performance, the market breadth closed largely positive, recording 41 gainers and 12 losers.

Ellah Lakes and Veritas Capital topped the advancers’ chart with a price appreciation of 10.00 percent each, trailed by Honeywell Flour Mills, Royal Exchange, Mansard Insurance, Prestige Insurance and International Breweries and thirty-four others.

Twelve stocks depreciated, according to market update. Austin and Laz was the top loser, with a price depreciation of -9.75 percent, trailed by Neimeth Pharmaceutical, Champion Breweries, Unilever Nigeria, Tantalizer and Sterling Financial Holdings.

In addition, the market sectoral performance was positive. The Insurance sector appreciated by +6.73 percent, followed by the Consumer goods with an increase of 1.54 percent, the Banking sector gained 0.98 percent, and the Oil & Gas sector posted a marginal gain of 0.03 percent. The Industrial sector closed flat.

However, market activities were mixed as the total volume of all trades executed in the local bourse surged by 273.96 percent, while the total value dropped by 20.21 percent .

Approximately 1,805.33 million units valued at N15,696.39 million were transacted across 24,397 deals.

In terms of volume, Sovereign Insurance led the activity chart, accounting for 77.91 percent of the total volume of traded in the local bourse, followed by Nigerian Breweries, Fidelity Bank, Zenith Bank and Universal Insurance, rounding out the top five.

Sovereign Insurance also emerged as the most traded stock in value terms, accounting for 26.40 percent of the total value of all trades executed on the exchange.

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