Investors earn N34bn as equities market opens week bullish

Equities trading at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) halts its persistent bearish run to inch up in the first trading session of the week.

Uncertainty however continues to shape market activity even as more companies come out with their audited year-end financials.

On Monday, All-Share Index (ASI) gained 0.17 per cent at the end of the day’s trading session to close at 39,396.57 basis points. This brought the market capitalisation to stand at N20.612 trillion as investors earned N34 billion.

The bulls swayed the market breadth in their favour as 25 counters in the gainer’s chart were recorded as against 13 counters in the losers’ chart.

On the performance chart, Linkage Assurance, Ardova Plc, Champion Breweries, Oando and Cornerstone Insurance led the gainer’s chart as the best-performing stocks, while from the rear of the chart, Meyer, Livestock, SCOA, Ikeja Hotel and NEM Insurance led the losers’ chart.

Performance across sub-sector gauges tracked was bullish as three out of the five indices tracked closed in the green zone; the NSE Insurance, NSE Oil/Gas and NSE Industrial advanced by 1.26 per cent, 101 per cent and 0.47 per cent respectively.

On the flip side, the NSE Banking and NSE Consumer Goods fell by 0.03 per cent and 0.06 per cent.

Activity at the local bourse as measured by both volume and value of trades dipped as daily traded volume stood at 297 million units, a 49.38 per cent decrease from a volume of 587 million units recorded in the previous trading session.

Value of traded stocks also tanked to stand at N3.154 billion a 76.81 per cent decline from the previous session trade value of N13.603 billion.

Zenith Bank, FBN Holdings, Mansard Insurance, Guinea Insurance and United Capital were the most traded stocks as measured by the volume of units traded. In respect to the value of trades, Zenith Bank, Stanbic, FBN Holdings, MTN Nigeria and Guaranty Trust Bank made up the top five performers.

Nigeria may be close to flattening the curve of the COVID-19 pandemic as confirmed cases in the country keep dropping weekly, Tribune Online analysis has shown. This is even as the much-expected COVID-19 vaccines arrived in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory last Tuesday…Investors earn N34bn as equities market opens week bullish