By Philemon Adedeji
As the week opened on Monday, Nigerian equities extended its winning streak as the benchmark index closed positive by 64.70 basis points or 0.15 per cent higher to settle at 44,461.43 basis points Increased demand for MTNN (+1.28 per cent) offset losses in Tier-1 banking which are ZENITH BANK (-0.25 per cent), GTCO (-0.54 per cent), FBNH (-1.03 per cent) and ACCESSCORP (-0.62 per cent) to keep the market in the green.
Specifically, the year-to-date return grew to 4.09 per cent, while market capitalization value gained N36.27 billion to close at N24.22 trillion.
Analysis of yesterday’s market activities showed trade turnover settled higher relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions up by 15.08 per cent.
A total of 72.33 million shares worth at N2.17 billion were exchanged in 2,887 deals. TRANSCORP (-3.67 per cent) led the volume chart with 11.35m units traded, while AIRTELAFRI (+0.00 per cent) led the value chart in deals worth 1.49bn.
The market sentiments as measured by market breadth closed negative as Redstarex led 7 others on the gainer’s table, while Unilever plc led 17 others on the laggard’s table.
Redstarex came as the highest price gainer with 8.22 per cent increased to close at N2.37 per share, Betaglass followed with 5.90 per cent to close at N43.95 per share, while Wapic Insurance which recorded as the last third gainer appreciated by 5.88 per cent to close at N0.36 per share.
Wapco rise by 2.73 per cent to close at N22.55 per share and Ardova oil which recorded as the last fifth gainer grew significantly by 2.19 per cent to close at N14 per share.
However, Unilever plc emerged as the most loser which dropped by 10 per cent to close at N10.80 Per share, followed by Nem Insurance which declined by 9.50 per cent to close at N4 per share, while Lasaco went down by 4.60 per cent to close at N0.83 per share.
Regalins Insurance depreciated by 4.17 per cent to close at N0.23 per share and Sovereign Insurance dipped by 3.85 per share to close at N0.25 per share
Transaction in the shares of Transcorp plc topped the activities chart with 11.352 million share valued at 11.929 million, NGXGROUP followed with 7.610 million share worth 120.059 million, While Guaranty Trust Holding Company transacted 5.277 million share valued at 97.318 million.
Sovereign Insurance sold 4.277 million share valued at 1.050 million and Fidelity Bank traded 3.923 million share worth 14.433.