Gains in Airtel Africa’s stocks lift equities market by 1.8%

Recovering from the previous session’s loss, the local stock market posted gains as the benchmark index rose by 1.76 per cent to close at 103,498.28 basis points.

At the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NGX) on Wednesday, gains in Airtel Africa, Geregu Power, and Zenith Bank kept the market in the green as these high stocks gained 10.0 percent, 6.72 per cent, and 2.82 per cent, respectively.

Sequentially, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns advanced to +2.3 per cent and +38.4 per cent, respectively.

Equities investors on Wednesday gained N979.78 billion as the market capitalisation closed at N56.63 trillion by the end of the day’s trading activities.

As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive, as 26 tickers gained relative to 25 gainers.

On the performance board, Airtel Africa and Unity Bank recorded the highest gains of the day having appreciated in share value by 10.0 per cent, while Mecure Industries and Thomas Wyatt Nigeria topped the losers’ list after their respective share prices dipped by 10.0 per cent.

Sectoral performance stayed positive as the Banking, Consumer Goods, and Oil/Gas sectors recorded gains of 2.01 percent, 3.99 per cent, and 5.34 per cent, respectively.

On the other hand, Insurance and Industrial Goods indexes posted losses of 0.25 percent and 3.54 per cent, respectively.

Analysis of market activities showed trade turnover settled higher relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions up by 181.51 per cent.

A total of 426.86 million shares valued at N12.11 billion were exchanged in 8,654 deals.

First Bank of Africa Holdings led the volume chart with 54.61 million units traded while Geregu Power led the value chart with deals worth N2.50 billion.