Dangote cement boosts stock market

The equities market on Thursday, halted a three-day losing streak bargain due to buying in Dangote Cement and 15 others, with the key market indices appreciating by 0.18 per cent.
Specifically, the All-Share Index (ASI) grew by 68.01 points or 0.18 per cent to close at 39,252.19 from 39,184.18 posted on Wednesday.
Accordingly, month-to-date and year-to-date loss return stood at 0.1 per cent and 2.5 per cent, respectively.
Similarly, the market capitalisation rose by N36 billion or 0.18 per cent to close at N20.451 trillion, against N20.415 trillion on Wednesday.
The market positive performance was driven by price appreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks which were; Dangote Cement, Julius Berger Nigeria, Access Bank, United Capital and United Bank for Africa.
However, the market breadth closed negative with 18 losers as against 16 gainers.
Chams dominated the gainers’ chart in percentage terms, with a gain of 4.76 per cent to close at 22k per share.
Prestige Assurance came second with 4.35 per cent to close at 48k, while Wema Bank went up 3.66 per cent to close at 85k per share.
AXA Mansard Insurance was up by 3.49 per cent to close at 89k, while Julius Berger appreciated by 2.97 per cent to close at N26 per share.
On the other hand, Unity Bank led the losers’ chart in percentage terms by 8.62 per cent, to close at 53k per share.
Oando followed with a loss of 7.03 per cent to close at N4.10, while Union Bank of Nigeria dropped 6.54 per cent to close at N5 per share.
FTN Cocoa Processors lost 5.77 per cent to close at 49k, while Honeywell Flour Mills shed 4.88 per cent, to close at N3.90 per share.
The total volume of trades improved by 54.84 per cent with an exchange of 262.14 million units valued N1.99 billion exchanged in 3,955 deals.
This was in contrast with a turnover of 169.29 million shares worth N1.42 billion traded in 3,449 deals on Wednesday.
Transactions in the shares of Access Bank, topped the activity chart with 51.07 million shares valued N471.19 million.
Transcorp followed with 36.09 million shares worth N32.46 million, while Honeywell Flour Mills traded 18.64 million shares valued N72.35 million.
Mutual Benefits Assurance traded 17.68 million shares valued N5.24 million, while Sovereign Trust Insurance transacted 16.80 million shares worth N4.08 million.