By Chinyere Joel-Nwokeoma
The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) crucial market indices opened trading for the week on Monday with a growth of 0.60 per cent following enhanced bank in interest.
Specifically, the market capitalisation which opened at N12.807 trillion rose by N77 billion or 0.60 per cent to close at N12.884 trillion.
Also, the All-Share Index rose by 158.97 points or 0.60 per cent to close at 26,695.18 against 26,536.21 achieved on Friday.
The upturn was impacted by gains recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Guinness Nigeria, Dangote Cement, PZ Cussons Nigeria and United Bank for Africa (UBA) and Access Bank.
Analysts at Afrinvest Ltd “expected the bullish performance to be sustained in the subsequent session however, we maintain our bearish outlook in the near term.”
Market breadth closed positive with 17 gainers’ and eight losers.
Guinness led the gainers’ table during the day, gaining N2.90 to close at N32.40 per share.
Dangote Cement came second with a gain of N2 to close at N142, while PZ Cusson garnered 50k to close at N5.57 per share.
United Bank for Africa appreciated by 40k to close at N7, while Access Bank also rose by 40k to close at N9.80 per share.
Conversely, FBN Holdings recorded the highest loss to lead the losers’ table, dropping by 25k to close at N6.25 per share.
UACN trailed with a loss of 15k to close at N8.75, while UPL dipped 11k to close at N1.21 per share.
Neimeith was down by 6k to close at 60k and Cornerstone also declined by 6k to close at 60k per share.
In the same vein, the volume of shares transacted grew by 9.77 per cent with an exchange of 170.52 million shares worth N2.05 billion in 2,700 deals.
This was in contrast with a total of 155.35 million shares valued at N1.43 billion achieved in 2,773 deals on Friday.
Transactions in the shares of Access Bank topped the activity chart with 41.16 million shares worth N396.95 million.
UBA followed with 29.24 million shares valued at N201.96 million, while Zenith bank traded 25.59 million shares worth N479.81 million.
Guaranty Trust Bank sold 11.32 million shares valued at N332.86 billion, while Transcorp transacted 10.05 million shares worth N9.88 million. (NAN)