The Nigerian equities market opened the week strong on Monday with the benchmark index gaining 0.50%.
The All-Share Index began trading activities at 51,705.61 basis points to close at 51,962.85 basis points, gaining 257.24 basis points or 0.50%.
Likewise, the market capitalization gained 0.50% or ₦139bn to close at ₦28.014trn from ₦27,875trn.
The market’s performance was driven primarily by sustained investor interest in MTN NIGERIA COMMUNICATIONS PLC (+2.13%), FBN HOLDINGS PLC (+3.32%), ZENITH BANK PLC (+0.23%), OKOMU OIL PALM PLC (+8.53%) and STANBIC (+3.23%).
These helped to offset losses in NIGERIAN BREWERIES PLC (-3.42%), GUARANTY TRUST HOLDING COMPANY PLC (-0.24%) and UNITED BANK FOR AFRICA PLC (-0.67%).
Analysis of Monday’s market activities showed a total of 266.51m shares valued at ₦2.60bn and were exchanged in 5,050 deals.
LIVINGTRUST was the most traded stock by volume with 64.66m units traded, while SEPLAT led the value chart in deals worth ₦414.97m.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive, with 18 stocks gaining relative to 15 losers.
The top three advancers were led by ECOBANK TRANSNATIONAL INCORPORATED with 9.79% gain followed by JOHN HOLT PLC with 9.52% gain and LINKAGE ASSURANCE PLC with 9.43% gain.
While PZ CUSSONS NIGERIA PLC. led the top three decliners by 10.0%, next was ETERNA PLC with 9.33% fall and R T BRISCOE PLC followed with 6.25% fall.
Performance across sectors was broadly positive, as the Banking index increased with 0.5%, Oil & Gas index increased by 0.1%, and Consumer Goods index gained 0.1%.
The Insurance index was the sole loser of the day by 0.1% while the Industrial Goods index closed flat.
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