By Chris Ndibe
Activities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) resumed for the week on a positive note with key indicators improving by 0.12 per cent.
Specifically, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 29.87 points, indicating a growth of 0.12 per cent to close at 24,858.89 compared with 24,829.02 achieved on Friday.
Also, the market capitalisation, which opened at N12.952 trillion, inched higher by N15 billion or 0.12 per cent to close at N12.967 trillion.
The uptrend was impacted by gains recorded in large and medium capitalised stocks, amongst which are: Nestle, Okomu Oil, UACN, PZ Cussons and Fidson Healthcare.
On market outlook for this week, analysts at GTI Securities Limited, said: “We expect the sell-off sentiment in the equities market to slow-down.
“These, we opined will be driven by the current cheap prices of many fundamentally viable stocks that offer short term gains prospect to active investors.
“However, we believe the anticipated unimpressive second quarter, earnings performance may continue to weigh on market volatility.”
Cutix, Okomu Oil and Regency Alliance Insurance led the gainers’ chart in percentage terms, appreciating by 10 per cent each, to close at N1.76, N70.40 and 22k per share, respectively.
Neimeth trailed by 9.49 per cent to close at N1.50, while Wapic Insurance grew by 9.38 per cent to close at 35k per share.
PZ Cussons appreciated by 9.09 per cent to close at N4.20, while Prestige Assurance grew by 8.51 per cent to close at 51k per share.
Conversely, Unilever led the losers’ chart by 10 per cent, to close at N15.30 per share.
Arbico followed with a loss of 9.96 per cent to close at N11.75, while Chellarams lost 9.71 per cent to close at N2.51 per share.
Eterna lost 9.68 per cent to close at N2.24, while Deap Capital Management shed 9.09 per cent, to close at 30k per share.
In all, the volume of shares transacted appreciated by 24.78 per cent with an exchange of 158.72 million shares worth N1.64 billion achieved in 3,940 deals.
This was in contrast with a turnover of 127.20 million shares valued at N2.15 billion traded in 2,844 deals on Friday.
Transactions in the shares of Guaranty Trust Bank topped the activity chart with 17.83 million shares worth N401.07 million.
FBN Holdings followed with 17.38 million shares valued at N91.35 million, while Zenith Bank traded 10.25 million shares worth N165.61 million. Lasaco Assurance traded 10.19 million shares valued at N2.73 million, while UBA transacted 9.76 million shares worth N61.44 million.
