Nigerian equity market reverses negative trend, up by 0.01%

Trading on Nigerian Exchange Ltd. (NGX) gained marginally on Tuesday as market capitalisation increased by N3 billion or 0.01 per cent to close at 26.670 trillion against N26.667 trillion on Monday.

Similarly, the All Share Index appreciated by 5.10 basis points or 0.01 per cent to close at 49,445.31 against 49,440.21 on Monday.

Consequently, the year-to-date (YTD) return increased to 15.75 per cent.

Investors’ demand for shares of Tier-one banks such as FBN Holdings and Zenith Bank drove the performance of the market.

Also, equities that participated in the trading ended with 11 gainers and 14 losers.

A breakdown of the price movement table indicated that RT Briscoe led the gainers’ table, growing by 10 per cent to close at 33k per share.

FBN Holdings followed with a gain of five per cent to close at N10.50 and Linkage Asurance gained by 4.35 per cent to close at 48k per share.

Regency Alliance Insurance appreciated by four per cent to close at 26k, while Mutual Benefits Assurance increased by 3.70 per cent to close at 28k per share.

On the other hand, Total topped the losers’ chart, dropping by 9.98 per cent to close at N211.10 per share.

Learn Africa trailed with a loss of 9.71 per cent to close at N1.86 and Honeywell Flour Mills dropped by 8.13 per cent to close at N2.26 per share.

Cutix was down by 6.98 per cent to close at N2, while NPFi Mcrofinance declined by 6.63 per cent to close at N1.55 per share.

In all, the volume of trade rose by 61.72 per cent as investors bought and sold 147.59 million shares valued at N2.39 billion transacted in 3,323 deals.

This was in contrast with 67.37 million shares worth N1.48 billion exchanged in 3,386 deals on Monday.

Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) was the toast of investors with an exchange of 35.82 million shares worth N693.69 million.

It was trailed by Capital Hotel having accounted for 21.57 million shares valued at N73.54 million and FBN Holdings sold 20.01 million shares worth N208.92 million.

Zenith Bank traded 11.09 million shares valued at N219.15 million, while Chams sold 7.87 million shares worth N2.35 million. (NAN)