MTNN, Dangsugar drive equities market by N412bn in Thursday’s trade
By Chukwuma Umeorah
The Nigerian equities market on Thursday closed in a positive territory as the gains recorded in MTN Nigeria, Dangote Sugar and the Transpower grew investors wealth by N412.47 billion.
Consequently, the benchmark All-Share Index (ASI) and market capitalization rose to 100,335 basis points or 0.75 per cent) and N56.73 trillion respectively from the previous day’s 99,591 basis points and N56.31 trillion.
Despite prediction from analysts on a mixed trading week, the equities market have maintained an upward trajectory as investors continue to position themselves in stocks with strong growth potentials.
The share price of the newly listed power company, Transpower furthered its upward trajectory from preceding day’s low of N319.40 to N351.30, adding N31.90 or 9.99 per cent. MTNN also rose from N183 to N201.30, up by N18.30 or 10 per cent, while Dangote Sugar Refinery went up from N46 to N50.60, adding N4.60 or 10 per cent.
Other stocks that drove the market in the green zone on Thursday were, Juli which gained 9.96 per cent to close the day’s trade at N4.52 per, while NASCON added 9.92 per cent and closed at N47.65 per share.
At the end of Thursday’s trading session on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NGX), a total of 55.71 million units of shares with a corresponding market value of N17.731 billion were exchanged in 9,708 deals. Compared with the previous trading day, the data represents a 33 per cent improvement in volume, a 9 per cent decline in turnover, but a 4 per cent improvement in deals.
In the aggregate, 123 NGX listed equities participated in trading, ending with 26 gainers and 33 losers.
In terms of volume, Transcorp was the most active exchanging N301.3 million units of shraes with a corresponding market value of N5.65 billion, Sterling traded 33.3 million units of shares at N150.7 million while First Bank sold 23.21 million shares at N773.9 million.
On the losing end, Guinness and FTNCOCOA were the worst performing stock both loosing 10 per cent in value each to close the day’s trade at N45.90 and N1.53 per share. Other stocks that depreciated in value at the end of the day’s trade were Trancorp, losing 9.95 per cent to close at N17.10 per share, while Ikeja Hotel and Redstarex lost 9.93 and 9.87 per cent closing at N6.08 and N3.38 per share.