Airtel Africa, MTN Nigeria drive equities market growth by N252bn

The nation’s bourse extended its upward movement on Tuesday with N252 billion gain as investors staked more money in Airtel Africa and 23 others.

Specifically, the market capitalisation which opened at N22.569 trillion inched higher by N252 billion or 1.22 per cent to close at N22.821 trillion.

In the same vein, the All-Share Index increased by 483.68 points or 1.12 per cent to close at 43,730.55 from 43,246.87 achieved on Monday.

Consequently, the month-to-date and year-to-date gains increased to 4.0 per cent and 8.6 per cent, respectively.

The market’s positive performance was driven by price appreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks which are; Airtel Africa, MTN Nigeria Communications, Ardova, Lafarge Africa and UACN.

Analysts at Afrinvest Ltd. said, “In the subsequent trading session, we expect the positive sentiment to linger due to sustained interest in the ICT space.”

Accordingly, the market closed positive with 24 gainers as against 16 losers.

Associated Bus Company and FTN Cocoa processors drove the gainers’ table in percentage terms with 10 per cent each to close at 33k and 44k per share, respectively.

Ardova Plc followed with 7.38 per cent to close at N14.55 per share. UACN was up by 7.14 per cent to close at N11.25, while Livestock Feeds appreciated by 6.83 per cent to close at N2.19 per share.

On the other hand, Berger Paints Nigeria led the losers’ chart in percentage terms by 9.52 per cent to close at N8.55 per share.

Caverton Offshore Support Group followed with 9.09 per cent to close at N1.70, while University Press declined by 7.39 per cent to close at N2.13 per share.

Regency Alliance Insurance declined by 6.82 per cent to close at 41k, while Conoil Plc shed 5.65 per cent to close at N21.70 per share.

Transactions in the shares of Sterling Bank topped the activity chart with 83.31 million shares valued at N125.06 million.

UACN followed with 34.21 million shares worth N360.54 million, while Zenith Bank traded 17.48 million shares valued at N427.16 million. United Capital sold 17.45 million shares valued at N169.81 million, while Access Bank transacted 15.27 million shares worth N144.37 million.

In all, the total volume of trades declined by 36.72 per cent to 280.71 million units valued at N3.48 billion exchanged in 4,342 deals.

This was against 443.61 million shares worth N5.05 billion shares transacted in 5,233 deals on Monday.