Business

Equities market opens week bullish as investors earn N70.14bn

Equities trading at the Nigerian Exchange Limited opened the week on a positive note, extending gains from the previous session as the All-Share Index closed 0.18 percent stronger to close at 71,669.91 basis points.

Basically, gains in telco heavyweight – MTN Nigeria Communication, alongside BUA Cement and Zenith promoted the overall bullish trade on Monday as these companies’ stock value appreciated by 0.59 percent, 0.52 percent and 1.43 percent, respectively.

Subsequently, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns increased to +0.4 percent and +39.8 percent, respectively.

Consequently, equities investors earned N70.14 billion cumulatively as the market capitalization settled at N39.22 trillion by the end of trading activities on Monday.

As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive as 27 tickers gained relative to 23 losers. On the performance board, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated and Deap Capital Management and Trust recorded the most significant gains of the day having appreciated in share prices by 9.9 percent and 9.8 percent, respectively, while RT Briscoe RISCOE and Secured Electronic Technology topped the losers’ list after their respective share prices dipped by 9.7 percent and 9.3 percent.

Sectoral performance was, however, mixed as the Banking and Industrial Goods indices recorded gains by 1.6 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively, while the Insurance index declined. Meanwhile, the Consumer Goods and Oil & Gas indices closed flat.

Analysis of market activities on Monday showed trade turnover settled lower relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions down by 46.53 percent. A total of 375.32 million shares valued at N3.85 billion were exchanged in 7,011 deals.

Veritas Kapital led the volume chart with 88.84 million units traded while Access Holdings led the value chart in deals worth N612.70 million.

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