By Dipo Olowookere
The bearish run at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) was put to an end on Monday when Dangote Cement and 20 other equities led the market to a positive start at the first trading day of the week.
Price appreciation recorded by large cap stocks pushed the equities market forward by 0.34 percent, the first gain recorded in the last seven trading sessions.
At the close of transactions today, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 129.59 points to close at 37,992.12 points, while the market capitalisation appreciated by N47 billion to finish at N13.762 trillion.
Business Post reports that the volume and value of shares bought and sold by investors on Monday appreciated by 83.83 percent and 139.16 percent with a total of 307.4 million shares valued at N3.4 billion exchanging hands in 3,822 deals compared with the 167.2 million equities worth N1.4 billion traded in 3,847 deals last Friday.
The activity chart was dominated today by UBA with a total of 43.7 million units of its shares valued at N459.2 million traded by investors.
It was followed by Honeywell Flour, which sold 16.9 million shares worth N34.2 million and Zenith Bank, which traded 16.2 million equities for N418.7 million.
Furthermore, FBN Holdings sold 12.6 million shares valued at N133.7 million, while Sterling Bank exchanged 11.3 million shares worth N15.4 million.
At the close of business on Monday, the Financial Services sector led the activity chart with 151.2 million shares exchanged for N1.5 billion, while the Consumer Goods space trailed with 23.6 million shares traded for N467 billion.
Today’s highest price gainer was Dangote Cement as its shares rose by N5 to settle at N230 per share.
It was followed by Cement Company of Northern Nigeria (CCNN), which gained N1.20k to close at N25.95, and Guaranty Trust Bank, which went up by 35 Kobo to close at N41.05k per share.
Stanbic IBTC improved on Monday by 25 kobo to close at N49 per share, while Unilever Nigeria also increased by 25 kobo to close at N51 per share.
At the other end, Seplat topped the losers’ chart after going down N34.20k to close at N650.80 per share.
Nestle Nigeria went down by N5 to close at N1,490 per share, while CAP dropped N1.80k to finish at N35 per share.
Lafarge Africa depreciated by 90 kobo to close at N38.10k, while Guinness Nigeria decreased by 50 kobo to close at N97 per share.