Investors gain N3.4 billion as market resumes week upbeat

Stock market activities closed upbeat for the fifth consecutive session on Monday as lead indices appreciated by 0.07 percent.

Market capitalization settled at N8.881 trillion, following a gain of N3.4 billion, while All Share Index rose 18.39 points to settle at 25,671.55 points.

Market breadth however, closed negative as the price movement chart showed that 13 companies gained, while 22 recorded decline in share price.

Nigerian Aviation Handling Company and Mobil Oil Nigeria led the day’s top five gainers with 5 percent each to close at N2.10 and N294 per share respectively, Fidson was next with a growth of 4.49 percent to close at 93 kobo per share, Guaranty Trust Bank increased by 3.23 percent to close at N27.15, and Nestle added 2.74 percent to close at N750.

On the other hand, top five losers for the day were led by United Capital with a loss of 5 percent to close at N2.66 per share. Guinness Nigeria followed with a depreciation of 4.99 percent to close at N63.18 per share, while Custodian Allied Insurance dropped 4.95 percent to close at N3.07 per share. Neimeth declined 4.92 percent to close at 58 kobo per share, and Julius Berger depreciated 4.88 percent to close at N38.

Custodian topped the activity chart for the day, as it emerged the most traded stock with 176.4 million units of shares traded, worth N541.6 million, FBN Holdings was next with 150.4 million shares valued at N470.7 million while UBA emerged the third most traded stock with 25.1 million units of shares worth N137.5 million.

Zenith and Diamond Bank also made it to the top five traded stocks for the day, having traded 23.0 million and 20.5 million units of shares each, worth N323.7 million and N18.9 million respectively.

Investors in 2,587 deals thus spent a total of N2.5 billion on 495.2 million units traded on Monday