By Philemon Adedeji
Domestic equities bounced back yesterday from losses recorded in the previous days, which lifted capitalisation to N654 billion, driven by gains in MTNN (+0.36 per cent), Dangote cement (+9.34 per cent) alongside GTCO (+1.33 per cent) buoyed the broader index.
Accordingly, the gain puts the index on track for its fourth consecutive weekly gain since the week ended 14 July. As a result, the year-to-date (YTD) return rose to 27.23 per cent, while the market capitalisation gained N564.84 billion to close at N35.48 trillion.
The NGX All-Share Index increased by 1,037.43 basis points or 1.62 per cent to close at 65,204.62 basis points from 64,167.39 basis points from the previous trading day.
Analysis of yesterday’s market activities showed trade turnover settled higher relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions up by 119.49 per cent.
The trade volume increased to 51.7 per cent to close at 361.20 million units valued at N5.74 billion were exchanged in 5,531 deals.
First Bank Holdings (+7.34 per cent) led the volume and value charts with 140.18m units traded in deals worth N2.61 billion.
Market breadth closed positive as 23 stocks constituted the gainers while 17 stocks constituted the laggard logs
On the price gainer chart, Chellaram which led the gainers table rose by 10.00 per cent to close at N4.40 per share, closely followed by SCOA which appreciated by 9.35 per cent to close at N1.17 per share, while Dangote Cement grew by 9.34 per cent to close at N349.60 per share.
Thomaswy which came as the last fourth gainer went up by 9.32 per cent to close at N1.29 per share
Guiness Insurance which emerged as the last fourth gainer rose by 9.09 per cent to close at N0.36 per share.
On the other hand, CAP United which led the laggards logs suffered 10.00 per cent to close at N19.80 per share, Academy Press which followed dipped by 9.36 per cent to close at N2.13 per share, while Dangote Sugar went down by 6.63 per cent to close at N32.40 per share.
Glaxosmith which recorded as the last fourth loser dropped by 6.60 per cent to close at N9.20 per share, while Chams holdings which came as the last fifth loser shed 5.05 per cent to close at N0.94 per share.
Transaction in the shares of First Bank Holdings topped the activities chart with 140.179 million shares worth N2.608 billion, Fidelity Bank which followed traded 21.559 million shares valued at N165.186 million, while Universal Insurance transacted 18.706 million shares valued at N4.211 million.
Transnational Corporation traded 17.307 million shares worth N62.606 million, while United Bank for Africa traded volume of 13.081 million shares worth N188.990 million.