Equities Investors Gain N345bn After 4-Day Loss
Equities investors gained N345 billion on Friday after 4-day selling pressures at the local bourse. Reversing the downward trend, transactions rebounded on Friday with the market capitalisation due to positive interest in financial services stocks.
The latest rally lifted equities market capitalisation to N55.735 trillion, compared with N55.390 trillion achieved on Thursday, a growth of 0.62 per cent.
Stockbrokers noted that the market capitalisation lost N1.42 trillion as authorised dealers in the fixed income market parked funds into government borrowing instruments.
On Friday’s close, the All-Share Index (ASI) went up by 0.62 per cent or 631 points to close at 101,858.37, as against 101,227.66 posted on Thursday. However, the ASI benchmark closed 2.45 per cent lower on a week-on-week basis, having lost in four of five trading sessions in the week.
Consequently, the Year-To-Date (YTD) return fell to 36.22 per cent. The upward performance was due to buy interests in Geregu, Zenith Bank and Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) on Friday.
Analysis of the market activities indicated that trade turnover was higher than the previous session, with the value of transactions up by 2.54 per cent. A total of 321.89 million shares valued at N7.35 billion were exchanged in 8,925 deals, compared to 478.38 billion shares valued at N7.17 billion exchanged in 10,957 deals recorded on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Transcorp led the volume chart with 33.34 million shares valued at N439.02 million, followed by Universal Insurance with 21.25 shares worth N7.81 million.
Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) traded 18.78 shares valued at N486.01 million, United Bank of Africa (UBA) sold 17.58 shares worth N448.47 million, while Access Holdings traded 16.19 shares valued at N408.13 million.
On the gainers’ table, May & Baker led in percentage term of 10 to close at N7.04, followed by Geregu with 9.92 per cent to close at N675.90 per share. Meyer Plc gained 9.86 per cent to close at N6.91, while Veritas Kapital Assurance rose by 9.84 per cent to close at 67k.
Also, Juli Plc garnered 9.78 per cent to close at N1.01 per share. Conversely, Eterna Plc led the losers’ table by 9.80 per cent to close at N17.95, followed by Industrial and Medical Gases with 9.38 per cent to close at N13.50 per share.
Daar Communications trailed by 9.21 per cent to close at 69k, while Neimeth International Pharmacy shed 9.09 per cent to close at N1.80 per share. Unity Bank lost 8.33 per cent to close at N2.31 per share. As a result, market breadth closed positive with 36 advancing stocks, compared with 26 declining ones. #Equities Investors Gain N345bn After 4-Day Loss#
