Equities market resumes September bullish, investors gain N123bn
By Chuwkuma Umeorah and Ifeoma Nwajei
The Local equities market on Monday, resumed the month of September on a bullish note with investors wealth growing by N123.45 billion over bargain hunting in Oando and banking stocks.
A the close of Monday’s trading session, the benchmark All Share Index (ASI) and Market Capitalization added 0.22 per cent rising to 96,793.95 points and N55.60 trillion respectively from an opening value of 96,579.54 points and N55.47 trillion This indicates renewed investors’ confidence despite shedding 1.2 per cent value in August. The Year-to-Date returns inched up to 29.16 per cent.
The positive performance of the market was largely driven by notable gains in the share prices of Oando, Access Bank, UBA, Zenith Bank, GTCO, and 23 other stocks. These companies also led in trading volume, with UBA exchanging 54.84 million shares valued at N1.32 billion, Zenith Bank trading 39.98 million shares worth N1.59 billion, and Oando trading 38.38 million shares valued at N3.20 billion. Analysts have forecasted a relatively stable market performance for September, citing the possibility of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) easing its hawkish monetary stance following a slight reduction in inflation rates. Investors continue to reposition their portfolios, seeking to acquire value stocks amidst these developments.
Monday’s data showed a total of 498.11 million units of shares corresponding to a market value of N11.04 billion were exchanged in 13,149 deals. When compared with the previous trading day, the data reveals a 13 per cent decline in volume, a 65 per cent decline in turnover, but a 3 per cent improvement in deals.
Investors’ sentiment was slightly negative as the market breadth closed with 29 stocks depreciating in value while 28 gained. Livestock was the worst performing stock for the day shedding 10 per cent of its value and closing at N2.25 per share.
They were followed by RTBriscoe which lost 9.86 per cent in value closing at N3.20 per share while Cornerstone Insurance lost 9.63 per cent and closed at N2.44 per share.
Daar Communications and WAPIC also shed 9.59 and 9.41 per cent closing at N0.66 and N0.77 per share respectively.
On the other hand, OANDO gained 9.95 per cent closing at N84.55 per share followed by IMG and Etranzact adding 9.85 per cent and 9.80 per cent closing at N29.00 and N5.60 per share respectively. Conoil and UPL added 9.72 and 9.13 per cent in value and ended the day’s trade at N158.00 and N2.51 per share respectively.
