Airtel Africa, Zenith Bank, 24 others raise capitalization to N272bn
By Philemon Adedeji
Opening the week, the local bourse rebounded by 499.95 basis points representing 0.95 per cent to close at 53,157.83 Index points from 52,657.88 index points it closed trade on Friday.
Investor interest in telco heavyweight, AIRTEL AFRICA (+3.11 per cent), alongside Zenith Bank (+0.80 per cent), Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) (+1.89 per cent) and WAPCO Insurance (+1.63 per cent) were the primary drivers of the overall market’s strong performance.
As a result, the year-to-date (YTD) return rose to 3.72 per cent while market capitalization gained N272.31 billion to close at N28.953 trillion.
The market impressive performance was driven by gains recorded in medium and large capitalized stocks which are Airtel Africa, Johnholts, Geregu Power, Zenith Bank and 24 others.
The breakdown of yesterday’s market activities revealed that trade turnover settled higher relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions up by 141.78 per cent.
The trade volume increased by 201,359,381 million units valued at N5.67 billion were exchanged in 4,332 deals.
Zenith Bank led the volume chart with 36.76 million units traded, while Geregu Power led the value chart in deals worth N1.79 billion.
The market sentiments as measured by market breadth closed positive as 28 stocks led the gainers, while 15 stocks led the losers.
At the close of trade on Monday, Johnholts and Geregu Power led the gainers with 10.00 per cent each increased to close at N1.21 and N176.00 per share respectively, while Nigerian Aviation Handling Company which emerged as the third best gainer went up by 9.62 per cent to close at N8.55 per share.
Intenegins grew significantly by 9.52 per cent to close at N0.69 per share and Maybaker which recorded as the last fifth gainer appreciated by 8.26 per cent to close at N4.85 per share.
However, On the decliners log, Wapic Insurance led as the most loser which dipped by 8.89 per cent to close at N0.41 per share, Triple G which followed shed 8.57 per cent to close at N0.96 per share, while Royalex Exchange Lost 7.14 per cent to close at N0.78 per share.
Honey Flour which recorded as the last fourth loser dipped by 6.44 per cent to close at N2.18 per share and UPDC which recorded as the last fifth loser went down by 5.94 per cent to close at N0.95 per share.
