Investors stake N2.6b on 215.16 million shares

…As TransCorp, Guinness, Dangcem lead gainers

Investment appetite of investors in equities listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), on Tuesday remained sturdy as buy mandates for choice valuable stocks continued to soar.

Trading which closed bullish yesterday, recorded more unexecuted buy mandates for choice stocks, Transcorp, Guinness and Dangote Cement all of which are currently trading cum-dividend on the exchange.

At the end of trade, the key market measuring indices grew, as investors transacted 215,162,024 shares worth N2.60 billion, in 3,689 deals.

The NSE All Shares-Index closed higher at 25,129.27 from 24,129.27 which opened trade for the day, reflecting 537.28 points growth. The market capitalization also closed bullish at N8.6970 trillion from N8.507 trillion that opened trade for the day, showing N190 billion growth in market value.

All major sectors ended the session positive with the Industrial sector emerging best performer with +2 .32 per cent. Banking and Consumer Goods gained +1.82 per cent and +1.46 per cent respectively while the Oil & Gas sector was up +0.07 per cent.

Furthermore, market activity increased on Tuesday as total volume and total value surged +68% and +76 per cent respectively as investors exchanged a total of 215 m units of shares in 3,692 deals worth N2.60bn.

The Banking sector accounted for 76 per cent of total volume. ACCESS (-0.46 per cent) led the market with 44munits of shares accounting for 20% of total volume.

Trading on the floor of the NSE recorded a total of 17 equities that advanced in price adding between 7.14 per cent and to 0.20 per cent, while 18 others recorded price slash of -5 per cent to -0.46 per cent.

Transcorp Plc led the gainers table with 7.14 per cent or N0.05 gain, to close at N0.75 per share, followed by Guinness Nigeria which recorded equity price growth of N3.05 or 4.97 per cent, closing trade at N64.40 per share, while Dangote Cement appreciated by 4.92 per cent or N7.35 , to close at N156.61 per share.
Paintcom share price grew by 4.84 per cent or N0.03, to close at N0.65 per share, while Dangote Flour closed the top five gainers table with 4.11 per cent or N0.15 equity price growth, closing at N3.80 per share.

The equities price decliners table showed that African Prudential Registers led the table with 5.00 per cent or N0.12 decline , to close at N2.28 per share, followed by AIICO which declined by 4.76 per cent or N0.03 , to close trade at N0.60 per share, while Meyer lost N0.04 or 4.60 per cent , to close trade at N0.83 per share.
Unity bank declined by 4.60 per cent or N0.03 to close at N0.67 per share, while Caverton closed the top five decliners table with N0.04 or 4.12 per cent deprecation in its equity price, to close trade at N0.93 per share.