By Chris Ndibe
The nation’s bourse halted negative trend on Tuesday due to investors’ interest in Airtel Africa, BUA Cement and 15 other equities.
Consequently, the All-Share Index rose by 71.43 points or 0.30 per cent to close higher at 24,097.48 compared with 24,026.05 achieved on Monday.
Accordingly, Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date losses moderated to -1.6 per cent and -10.2 per cent, respectively.
Also, the market capitalisation appreciated by N37 billion to close at N12.570 trillion against N12.533 trillion recorded on Monday.
The upturn was accounted for by gains recorded in large and medium capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Airtel Africa, BUA Cement, Zenith Bank, Red Star Express and PZ Cussons.
Analysts at Afrinvest Limited said that “Given the low prices, we expect bargain hunting to continue in the near term.”
A breakdown of the price movement table shows that Red Star Express led the gainers’ table in percentage terms, growing by 9.76 per cent, to close at N3.26, per share.
Wapic Insurance trailed with 6.06 per cent to close at 35k, while C & I Leasing rose by 5.26 per cent to close at N4, per share.
PZ Cussons increased by five per cent to close at N4.20, while Mutual Benefits Assurance appreciated by 4.76 per cent to close at 22k, per share.
On the other hand, Okomu Oil dominated the losers’ chart in percentage terms, dropping 9.95 per cent, to close at N69.70 per share.
Unilever Nigeria and MRS Oil followed with a loss of 9.78 per cent each to close at N12.45 per share each.
AXA Mansard dipped 9.66 per cent to close at N1.59, while Custodian Investment shed 9.09 per cent to close at N5, per share.
An analysis of the activity chart shows that Guaranty Trust Bank emerged investors’ delight, accounting for 19.72 million shares valued at N413.82 million.
Access Bank came second with 13.01 million shares worth N81.06 million, while MTN traded 10.23 million shares valued at N1.18 billion.
United Bank for Africa sold 10.19 million shares worth N61.98 million, while Japaul Oil & Maritime Services transacted 9.62 million shares valued at N2.05 million.
In all, the total volume of shares traded dropped by 18.01 per cent with an exchange of 155.53 million shares, worth N2.60 billion achieved in 4,060 deals.
This was in contrast with a total of 189.69 million shares worth N2.78 billion exchanged in 4,216 deals on Monday.
