Equities market opens week on positive note as ASI adds 0.05%

Equities trading at the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) opened the week on a positive footing as the benchmark index closed higher by 0.05 percent to 98,177.88 basis points.

Basically, sustained investors’ interest in MTN Nigeria Communication and renewed interest in Transcorp Hotel were the primary drivers of the overall market’s performance as these stocks appreciated by 2.68 per cent and 3.03 per cent, respectively.

Consequently, the year-to-date (YTD) return rose to 31.30 percent.

Also, the market capitalisation of listed equities surged by 0.05 percent to N55.54 trillion, leaving investors with cumulative gain of N28.61 billion.

However, market breadth closed negative as the exchange recorded fewer winners as against the laggards.

On the performance board. Champion Breweries topped 27 others on the laggard’s table, while Berger Paints led 11 others on the leader’s log.

Elsewhere, sectoral performance was downbeat notably in the Banking, Insurance, and Consumer Goods indexes, which recorded downward movements of 1.51 percent, 0.1 percent, and 0.03 percent respectively, as investors dump Champion Breweries, Sovereign Insurance, United Bank for Africa, Zenith Bank and Honeywell Flour Mills. 

Meanwhile, the Industrial goods and Oil & Gas indexes closed muted at the close of trading activities. 

Analysis of market activities for the day under review showed trade turnover settled lower relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions declining by 28.98 per cent. 

A total of 405.66 million shares valued at N6.69 billion were exchanged in 8,439 deals. Access Holdings led the volume value chart with 201.31 million units traded in deals worth N3.41 billion.

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