The Nigerian bourse rebounded after the previous session’s pullback as the benchmark Index gained 0.02 per cent to close at 72,404.91 basis points on Monday.
Basically renewed interest in United Bank for Africa, Lafarge Africa and Fidelity Bank pushed the broader index into positive territory, leaving their share prices higher by 0.41 per cent, 0.50 per cent and 2.65 per cent, respectively.
Accordingly, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns of the All Share Index (ASI) at the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) settled at +1.5 per cent and +41.3 per cent, respectively.
As a result of the bullish trading outing, equities investors earned N8.58 billion as the market capitalisation closed higher at N39.62 trillion on Monday.
However, as measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative, as 32 tickers lost relative to 17 gainers. On the performance board, ABC Transport and eTranzact topped the losers’ list having dipped by 9.9 per cent and 9.4 per cent, while Infinity Trust Mortgage Bank and John Holt recorded the most significant gains of the day after appreciating in share prices by 9.9 per cent, respectively.
Performance across sub-sector gauges tracked was mildly bullish, as three of the five indices tracked closed in the green zone: the NGX Banking, NGX Oil/Gas and NGX Industrial Goods indexes rose by 0.07 per cent, 0.09 per cent, and 0.03 per cent, respectively. On the flip side, the NGX Insurance and NGX Consumer Goods indexes nosedived by 1.30 per cent and 0.09 per cent, respectively.
Meanwhile, market activity was varied, with total deals and volume increasing by 12.12 per cent, and 5.57 per cent to 6,745 deals and 324.25 million units, respectively while the total traded value for the day declined by 33.03 per cent to N4.40 billion.
At the conclusion of the trading session, Mutual Beneficiary Microfinance Bank emerged as the most actively traded stock in terms of volume with 42.08 million shares worth N20.36 million changing hands in 47 deals, while United Bank for Africa was the most traded in terms of value, amounting to N689.91 million.
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