Chinwendu Obienyi

 

Proceedings on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) kicked off the new trading week on a high note as several high capitalised stocks recorded massive gains.

At the close of business on Monday, the All Share Index (ASI) rose by 3.96 per cent to settle at 32,243.05 points with aggregate market value of quoted equities at a high of N16.847 trillion from an opening value of N16.027 trillion.

This meant that investors gained about N82 billion while year-to-date (ytd) return improved to 20.1 per cent. Analysis of the market’s performance showed that activity level on the bourse surged impressively as the volume and value of stocks traded advanced by 27.7 and 60.2 per cent to 636.01 million units and N8.24 billion respectively, exchanged in 7,210 deals.

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Commenting on the performance of the market, analysts noted that Nigerian stocks are trading at their highest prices in a year as steady-to- impressive results by quoted companies continued to tickle the bulls at the stock market.

They however stated that they anticipate profit taking in next subsequent trading sessions. Afrinvest, in an emailed note to Daily Sun, said, “Following the significant appreciation recorded in today’s trade, we anticipate profit taking in the next trading session. Nonetheless, we expect market performance to be supported by earnings releases”.

Meanwhile 49 stocks appreciated in value while 11 others depreciated. Wapco topped the gainers’ chart with 10 per cent to close at N21.45 per share, Mutual Benefits followed with 10 per cent to close at 0.22 kobo, NNFM increased by 10 per cent to close at N6.05, Oando gained 10 per cent to close at N2.97 while Sterling Bank notched up 9.89 per cent to close at N2.

On the flipside, NCR led the laggards with 10 per cent to close at N1.80 per share. LearnAfrica was next with 8.70 per cent to close at N1.05, Conoil fell by 6.30 per cent to close at N17.85, Wapic dropped 4.55 per cent to close at 0.42 kobo while PZ lost 3.13 per cent to close at N4.65.

The most traded stocks by volume were Zenith Bank (70.2 million units), FBN Holdings (67.7 million units) and Access Bank (58.0 million units) while Zenith Bank (N1.6 billion), MTNN (N1.2 billion) and GT Bank(N757.2 million) led by value chart.