Equities market opens week bullish, as capitalization grows by N11.2bn
Equities trading on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) resumed the last full trading week in the month of March upbeat, posting an increase of N11.2 billion in Market capitalization that settled at N8.818 trillion on Monday.
Key index of the stock market, the All Share Index recorded a growth of 0.12 percent to close at 25,485.17 points, as other sectoral indices posted varied increases, except the Industrial index that shed 1.13 percent on account of a 2.71 percent decline in the share price of Lafarge (WAPCO) in the course of Monday’s trade.
Price movement chart showed that market breadth was positive (17 gainers vs 12 losers) on Monday. 7up that closed at N80 per share, recorded an increase of 5.25 percent to lead the day’s market gainers. It was trailed by Unilever that appreciated 4.95 percent to close at N33.90 per share.
Third on the day’s gainers list was Transnationwide Express that increased 4.40 percent to close at 95 kobo per share. This is even as the company’s proposal for a rights issue of 298,230,000 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo at N0.80 per share in the ratio of 3:2 ordinary shares held received the NSE’s approval last Thursday.
On the other hand, the day’s top three losers were led by Champion Breweries which closed at N2.28 per share following a decline of 5 percent from previous trading price. Fidelity Bank was next with a decline of 4.94 percent to close at 77 kobo, while Livestock fell 4.23 to close at 68 kobo per share.
Most actively traded stocks on the Exchange were STACO with the sale of 333.6 million units worth N166.8 million, Zenith Bank was next with 52.9 million units at N724.6 million, Fidelity Bank was third with 37.9 million units worth N29.9 million, Stanbic came fourth by trading 23.1 million units of its shares valued at N407.9 million while Guaranty transacted 18.4 million shares worth N487.4 million.
