Following sustained bargain hunting in most bluechip stocks, transactions on the equities sector of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) continued upbeat, causing market capitalisation to increase further by N375 billion.
On Tuesday, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 719.45 absolute points, representing a growth of 3.12 per cent to close at 23,809.31 points. Similarly, the overall market capitalisation increased by N375billion to close at N12.408trillion.
The uptrend was impacted by gains recorded in medium and large value stocks, amongst which were; Nestle Nigeria, Dangote Cement, MTN Nigeria Communications, Zenith Bank, and Lafarge Africa.
Analysts at Investdata Consulting Limited, said: “The sustained bullish stance in the midst of high volatility and profit-taking is attributed to increased buying interests in medium and high cap stocks.
This is even as investors react positively to companies that had posted impressive numbers recently while positioning in those that are yet to release their 2019 full year and 2020 Q1 earnings reports.
We expect a mixed trend on profit and position-taking as players digest corporate earnings released so far.”
Market sentiment, as measured by market breadth, was positive, as 29 tickers gained, relative to seven decliners.
Dangote Cement recorded the highest price gain of 10 per cent to close at N143 per share.
Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals followed with 9.26 per cent to close at 59 kobo per share.
Prestige Assurance and UACN Property Development Company rose 9.09 per cent, each, to close at 60 kobo and 84 kobo, respectively.
Unity Bank appreciated by 6.82 per cent to close at 47 kobo per share.
On the other hand, May and Baker Nigeria led the losers’ chart by 10 per cent to close at N2.43 per share.
NPF Micro Finance Bank followed with 9.60 per cent to close at N1.13, while Linkage Assurance fell 9.43 per cent to close at 48 kobo, per share.
McNichols Plc lost 8.70 per cent to close at 42 kobo, and Flour Mills of Nigeria shed 5.95 per cent each to close at N19.75, per share.
The total volume of trade rose by 37.7 per cent to 345.175 million units, valued at N4.252billion exchanged in 4,689 deals.
Transactions in the shares of Guaranty Trust Bank topped the activity chart with 54.287 million shares valued at N1.140billion.
Mutual Benefits Assurance followed with 41.785 million shares worth N9.022million, while Zenith Bank traded 40.312 million shares at N591.010million.
Sterling Bank traded 30.791 million shares valued at N37.638 million, while Access Bank transacted 28.782 million shares worth N177.918 million.
Source: VON
