By: Kehinde Akinseinde-Jayeoba – Lagos
Equities trading at the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) extended gains for the fifth consecutive session on Tuesday as the benchmark index gained 0.86 per cent to settle at 55,806.26 basis points.
Basically, gains in industry heavyweight, Dangote Cement, alongside Tier-1 banking names, Zenith Bank and Guaranty Trust Holding Company were the main drivers of the market’s overall performance as their share prices appreciated by 2.21 per cent, 2.12 per cent and 2.50 per cent, respectively.
Accordingly, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date return advanced to +4.8 per cent and +8.9 per cent, respectively.
Investors, therefore, added N260.31 billion to their overall investment as the market capitalisation settled higher at N30.40 trillion by the end of the day’s trading activities.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was largely positive, as 36 tickers gained relative to 10 losers. On the performance board, MRS and Stanbic IBTC Holdings recorded the highest gains of the day after their respective share prices appreciated by 10.0 per cent and 9.9 per cent, while Multiverse and CWG Support topped the losers’ list as they record 10.0 per cent and 9.1 per cent respective decline in share value.
Moreover, the sub-sector gauges were largely positive: the NGX Banking, NGX Insurance, NGX Oil/Gas, and NGX Industrial Indices rose by 1.68 per cent, 0.28 per cent, 0.41 per cent and 1.40 per cent, respectively. However, the NGX Consumer Goods Index fell by 0.09 per cent.
In the broader market, the NGX Premium and the NGX-30 index increased by 126 basis points and 89 basis points, respectively.
Analysis of market activities on Tuesday showed trade turnover settled higher relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions up by 184.78 per cent. A total of 237.17 million shares valued at N4.39 billion were exchanged in 4,435 deals.
Fidelity Bank led the volume chart with 39.98m units traded while Dangote Cement led the value chart in deals worth N1.58 billion.
READ ALSO FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
