Trading in the domestic equities market started the week and month on a bullish note, as bargain buying on the shares of Bua Cement, Zenith Bank and United Bank for Africa (UBA) spur a 0.33 per cent gain in the benchmark index.
Specifically, the All-Share Index (ASI) of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) closed at 39,931.63 basis points, having appreciated by 0.33 per cent, just as the market capitalisation settled at N20.89 trillion after adding N68.03 billion on Monday.
Consequently, the Month-to-Date (MtD) return settled at +0.3 per cent, while the Year-to-Date (YtD) loss moderated to -0.8 per cent.
The performance was however unimpressive as the market breadth was negative. 28 tickers declined, relative to 12 gainers.
On the chart, Nascon recorded the largest loss having declined in value by ten per cent, followed by Champion Breweries whose shares lost 9.9 per cent at the end of trading activities. On the other side, UACN and AIICO Insurance topped the gainers’ list after recording 6.7 per cent and 5.2 per cent respective appreciation in value.
Analysing by sectors, the Industrial Goods and Banking indices recorded gains by 1.5 per cent and 0.3 per cent, while the Insurance, Consumer Goods, and Oil & Gas indices closed in the red after declining by 1.1 per cent, 0.5 per cent and 0.1 per cent respectively.
Activity at the local bourse went uptick on Monday as the total volume of trades increased by 7.3 per cent to 543.99 million units, valued at N1.89 billion, and exchanged in 4,673 deals.
Wema Bank was the toast of investors as it was the most traded stock by volume at 369.68 million units, while Zenith Bank was the most traded stock by value at N529.07 million.
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