The domestic equities market opened for the week on Monday on a positive note with the All-Share Index appreciating by 1.73 per cent, amid buying interest in Dangote Cement and 25 other stocks.
Specifically, the index which opened at 34,250.74 rose by 592.70 points or 1.73 per cent to close at 34,843.44.
Accordingly, month-to-date loss moderated to -0.6 per cent, while year-to-date gain increased to 29.8 per cent.
Also, the market capitalisation garnered N310 billion or 1.73 per cent to N18.211 trillion compared with N17.901 trillion on Friday.
The upturn was impacted by gains recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are Airtel Africa, Dangote Cement, Guinness, Lafarge Africa and BOC Gases.
Market breadth turned positive with 26 gainers in contrast with 14 losers.
Airtel Africa led the gainers’ chart in percentage terms with 10 per cent to close at N704 per share.
Royal Exchange and AIICO Insurance followed with 9.52 per cent each to close at 23k and N1.15 per share, respectively.
FTN Cocoa Processors and Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals rose by 9.09 per cent each to close at 48k and N2.40 per share, respectively.
Mutual Benefits Assurance grew by 8.33 per cent to close at 26k, while Wapic Insurance appreciated by 7.69 per cent to close at 42k per share.
On the other hand, Prestige Assurance led the losers’ chart in percentage terms, losing 10 per cent to close at 45k per share.International Breweries trailed with a decline of 9.89 per cent to close at N6.47, while Cutix declined by 9.47 per cent to close at N1.72 per share.NASCON Allied Industries lost 9.38 per cent to close at N14.50, while Jaiz Bank shed 8.82 per cent to close at 62k per share.Meanwhile, the total volume or shares traded decreased by 73.86 per cent with an exchange of 208.09 million units valued at N3.70 billion exchanged in 4,154 deals.This was against a turnover of 796.06 million shares worth N4.46 billion achieved in 4,810 deals on Friday.Transactions in the shares of Zenith Bank topped the activity chart with 38.63 million shares valued at N875.68 million.Guaranty Trust Bank followed with 19.17 million shares worth N632.19 million, while Access Bank traded 16.14 million shares valued at N130.08 million.Regency Alliance Insurance traded 11.90 million shares worth N2.38 million, while Mutual Benefits Assurance transacted 9.19 million shares valued at N2.29 million.
