By Philemon Adedeji
Nigerian equities extended bullish run for second consecutive session yesterday, posted strong gains as the benchmark All Share Index (ASI) appreciated by 3.13 per cent stronger to close at 59,985.10 absolute points from 58,163.59 absolute points.
Sustained demands in index heavyweight MTNN (+10.00 per cent), alongside Zenith Bank(+9.74 per cent), Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) (+9.42 per cent) and Seplat Energy (+10.00 per cent) drove the broader index’s strong performance outweighing losses in Dangote Cement (-0.98 per cent), Bua Cement (-6.52 per cent), Julius Berger (-4.46 per cent) and Ardova (-5.06 per cent).
Consequently, the year-to-date (YTD) return rose to 17.04 per cent, with market capitalisation gaining N991.81 billion to close at N32.66 trillion.
The market upturn performance was primarily driven by price appreciation in medium and large capitalized stocks which are: International Breweries, Sterling Bank, MTNN, Transcohot, Dangote Sugar and others.
The breakdown of yesterday’s market activities showed trade turnover settled higher relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions up by 9.65 per cent.
The trade volume increased by 9.3 per cent to 1,296,665,522 billion shares valued at N21.08 billion were exchanged in 11,947 deals.
United Bank for Africa (UBA) (+9.63 per cent) led the volume chart with 230.76 million units traded, while GTCO (+9.42 per cent) led the value chart in deals worth N4.20 billion.
On the price appreciation table, International Breweries, Sterling Bank, Transcohot, Dangote Sugar, Seplat Energy gained 10.00 per cent each increased to close by N5.50, N2.75, N12.10, N25.30, N1320 per share respectively.
On the other hand, Pharmdeko led the laggard logs with 9.65 per cent loss to close at N2.06 per share, Computer Warehouse Group which closely followed suffered 9.44 per cent loss to close at N1.63 per share, while NNFM went down by 8.66 per cent to close st N12.65 per cent.
Bua Cement which recorded as the last fourth loser dipped by 6.52 per share, Ardova Oil which recorded as the last fifth loser decreased by 5.06 per cent to close at N16.90 per share.
Transaction in the shares of United Bank for Africa (UBA) topped the activities chart with 230.764 million shares worth N2.744 billion, Guaranty Trust Holding company which followed transacted 125.469 million shares valued at N4.204 billion, while Zenith Bank traded 119.143 million shares valued at N3.971 million.
Access Corporation accounted 92.792 million shares worth N1.449 billion Fidelity bank traded 75.620 million shares valued N494.143 million.