Stock market opens bullish after Sallah break with N330bn growth

The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) resumed from the Sallah holidays on Thursday bullish with the market capitalisation appreciating by N330 billion.
Analysts said the price appreciation was buoyed by buy-interest in all the major market sectors with the exception of the insurance sector.
Specifically, the market capitalisation inched higher by N330 billion or 1.67 per cent to N20.103 trillion from N19.773 trillion on Monday.
Also, the All-Share Index increased by 632.87 points or 1.67 per cent to close at 38,585.52 against 37,952.65 on Monday.
Accordingly, the month-to-date gain increased to 1.8 per cent, while the year-to-date loss moderated to 4.2 per cent.
The positive performance was driven by price appreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks amongst which are; Dangote Cement, Total, Cutix, Vitafoam and Oando.
Analysts at Afrinvest Ltd. said, “We expect the market to extend the positive performance to the last trading session of the week, driven by positive earnings release by companies.”
Consequently, the market closed positive with 22 gainers relative to 12 losers.
Total drove the gainers’ chart with 10 per cent to close at N184.80 per share.
Cutix followed with a gain of 9.77 per cent to close at N4.38, while Oando appreciated by 9.73 per cent to close at N3.61 per share.
Dangote Cement rose by 7.83 per cent to close at N248, while Courteville Business Solutions gained 4.55 per cent to close at 23k per share.
On the other hand, AIICO Insurance led the losers’ chart in percentage terms by 8.70 per cent to close at N1.05 per share.
Sovereign Trust Insurance followed with a decline of 6.45 per cent to close at 29k, while Veritas Kapital Assurance lost four per cent to close at 24k per share.
Livestock Feeds lost 3.55 per cent to close at N1.90, while Ardova shed 3.23 per cent to close at N15, per share.
Meanwhile, the total volume of shares traded dropped by 58.3 per cent to 203.11 million shares valued at N1.72 billion in 3,969 deals.
This was lower compared with 462.81 million shares worth N1.19 billion exchanged in 3,610 deals on Monday.
Transactions in the shares of Sterling Bank topped the activity chart with 22.49 million shares valued at N33.80 million.
United Capital followed with 16.90 million shares worth N115.11 million, while Fidelity Bank traded 14.06 million shares valued at N33.69 million.
Wema Bank sold 13.96 million shares worth N12.24 million, while Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) transacted 13.30 million shares valued at N392.12 million.