Nigerian Exchange records marginal gain

The Nigerian equity market halted last week’s downtrend on Monday, driven by gains recorded by WEMA BANK, GTCO and PRESCO.

The All Share Index increased was marginally up 0.01% to settle at 3 7,952.6 5 points, Market Capitalization increased by ₦2.8 4billion to settle at ₦1 9.8tn, bringing the year to date loss to -5.7 6%.

The volume stocks traded increased by 73.50% to 462.8 million units while the value traded declined by -60.59% to ₦1.20billion.

The most active stocks by volume were JAIZ BANK (217.1 2million units), STERLING BANK (7 8.18 million units) and WEMA BANK (19.15 million units) while NB (₦138.7 4million), STERLING BANK (₦119.5 5million) and JAIZ BANK (₦116.6 2mn) led by value.

Bargain hunting in LIVESTOCK (+4.7 9%), PRESCO (+2.9 4%) and UPL (+9.9 3%) ensured that the Agriculture and Services sector led the gainers with an increase of 1.2 4% and 0.3 3% respectively.

In addition, the Oil & Gas and Consumer Goods indices gained 0.16% and 0.06% respectively due to buy interests in ETERNA (+1 0.0 0%), CHAMPION (+7.1 4%) and HONEY FLOUR ( +6.7 5%).

Also, the Industrial Goods index gained 0.0 2% due to buy interest in CUTIX (+9.9 2%).

On the flip side, the Banking Index stood at (-0.3 6%) due to Sell-offs in STERLING BANK (-3.2 1%), UBN (-2.6 8%) and FBNH (-0.6 8%).

The Healthcare and ICT indices closed flat.

The top gainers were ETERNA (+1 0.0 0%), UPL (+9.9 3%), CUTIX ( +9.9 2%) , REGALINS (+8.8 9%) and LEARNAFRCA ( +8.7 6%) while FTNCOCOA (-7.3 2%), SOVRENINS (-6.0 6%), ETI (-3.7 7%), STERLNBANK (-3.2 1%) and UBN (-2.6 8%) lost the most. We expect sentiment to remain upbeat in the next trading session.