Seplat, Lafarge Africa, others drive equities market by 0.33%

By Kayode Tokede

Trading commenced on the equities market segment of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Monday, growing by 0.33 per cent due to investors buying interests in Seplat, Lafarge Africa Plc and Tier-1 listed banks’ stocks.

Consequently, the All-Share Index on Monday inched higher by 131.82 basis points or 0.33 per cent to 40,571.67 basis points from 40,439.85 basis points recorded on Friday.

Accordingly, the month-to-date loss moderated to 4.3 per cent, while the year-to-date gain increased to 0.80 per cent.

Also, the market capitalisation which opened at N21.155 trilliin rose by N69 billion or 0.33 per cent to close at N21.224 trillion.

Performance across sectors was broadly positive, following gains in the Oil & Gas (+5.4 per cent), Banking (+1.8 per cent), Insurance (+1.4 per cent) and Industrial Goods (+0.4 per cent) indices. The Consumer Goods index was flat.

The gain was driven by price appreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks amongst which are; Seplat, Japaul Gold and Ventures, Mutual Benefits Assurance, AIICO Insurance and Multiverse Mining and Exploration.

Market sentiment, as measured by market breadth, was positive with 31 gainers relative to 13 laggards.

Seplat drove the gainers’ chart in percentage terms, improving by 10 per cent to close at N544.50 per share.

Japaul Gold followed with 9.86 per cent to close at 78k, while Mutual Benefits Assurance rose by 9.52 per cent to close at 46k per share.

AIICO Insurance grew by 9.26 per cent to close at N1.18, while Multiverse Mining and Exploration appreciated by 9.09 per cent to close at 24k per share.

On the other hand, Conoil and Royal Exchange led the losers’ chart in percentage terms, losing 10 per cent each to close at N18.90 and 27k per share, respectively.

R.T. Briscoe followed with a loss of 9.09 per cent to close at 20k per share.

Consolidated Hallmark dipped 8.70 per cent to close at 42k, while Sovereign Trust Insurance shed 7.69 per cent to close at 24k per share.

However, the total volume of shares traded declined by 47.9 per cent as investors bought and sold 206.24 million shares worth N2.16 billion traded in 4,264 deals.

This was in contrast with a total of 395.62 million shares valued at N5.19 billion exchanged in 5,321 deals on Friday.

Transactions in the shares of Zenith Bank topped the activity chart with 21.51 million shares worth N539.62 million.

Mutual Benefits Assurance followed with 15.003 million shares valued at N6.81 million, while UACN Property Development Company traded 14.83 million shares valued at N12.08 million.

Fidelity Bank sold 14.72 million shares worth N35.94 million, while United Capital transacted 13.12 million shares worth N77.84 million.