Stock Market Posts Strong Rebound With N346bn Gains

Stock Market Posts Strong Rebound With N346bn Gains

Bullish sentiments resurfaced in the domestic stock market at the end of yesterday trading session, as bargain hunting in Airtel Africa and 10 others drove the market capitalisation higher by N346 billion.

Precisely, the All-Share Index inched higher by 641.77 absolute points, representing an increase of 1.24 per cent  to close at 52,591.41 points. While the overall market capitalisation value gained N346 billion to close at N28.353 trillion.

The market gain was driven by price appreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks amongst which are; Airtel Africa, Nigerian Exchange Group (NGXGroup), UAC of Nigeria (UACN), Custodian Investment and Vitaform Nigeria.

GTI Securities Limited stated that, “the Nigerian equity market closed transaction for today bullish due to increased buying in Airtel Africa and other stocks. However, profit-taking dominated the market and we expect this trend to continue.”

As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative as 41 stocks declined relative to 11 gainers. Chams Plc recorded the highest price gain of 9.52 per cent to close at 23 kobo, per share. Airtel Africa followed with a gain 9.39 per cent to close at N1,608.00, while FTN Cocoa processors gained 6.06 per cent to close at 35 kobo, per share.

Veritas Kapital Assurance rose by 4.76 per cent to close at 22 kobo, while Royal Exchange appreciated by 3.64 per cent to close at N1.14, per share. On the other hand, Champion Breweries and McNichols Plc led the losers’ chart by 10 per cent each to close at N3.42 and N1.98 respectively, while PZ Cussons Nigeria followed with a decline of 9.92 per cent to close at N11.35, per share.

Regency Alliance Insurance shed 9.68 per cent to close at 28 kobo, while NEM Insurance declined by 9.25 per cent to close at N3.63, per share.

Meanwhile, the total volume of trades decreased by 46.90 per cent to 382.455 million units, valued at N4.234 billion, and exchanged in 5,922 deals.

Transactions in the shares of UACN topped the activity chart with 48.190 million shares valued at N618.643 million. United Bank for Africa (UBA) followed with 31.853 million shares worth N250.519 million, while Access Holdings traded 30.691 million shares valued at N300.770 million.

FBN Holdings (FBNH) traded 30.621 million shares valued at N327.315 million, while Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp) transacted 27.329 million shares worth N32.351 million.