NSE resumes September trading with N46bn growth

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Tuesday sustained positive trend to open trading for the month of September with a growth of N46 billion.

Specifically, the market capitalisation which opened the month at N13.212 trillion appreciated by N46 billion to close at N13.258 trillion.

In the same vein, the All-Share Index grew by 86.82 points or 0.34 per cent to close at 25,413.95 against 25,327.13 achieved on Monday.

The growth was impacted by gains recorded in large and medium capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Nigerian Breweries, Stanbic IBTC, United Bank for Africa, UACN and Ecobank Transnational Incorporated.

Analysts at Afrinvest Limited expected the soft gains to be sustained on the back of improved investor appetite.

Market sentiment, as measured by the market breadth, was positive with 27 stocks gaining, relative to nine losers.

Livestock Feeds recorded the highest price gain of 10 per cent, to close at 66k per share.

Eterna followed with a gain 9.47 per cent to close at N2.08, while Jaiz Bank rose by 8.93 per cent to close at 61k per share.

UACN Property Development Company gained 8.24 per cent to close at 92k, while Neimeth International appreciated by 7.53 per cent to close at N2 per share.

Conversely, Wapic Insurance led the losers’ chart in percentage terms, dropping 5.71 per cent to close at 33k per share.

Union Bank of Nigeria followed with 5.66 per cent to close at N5, while PZ Cussons Nigeria lost 2.38 per cent to close at N4.10 per share.

May and Baker dipped 2.33 per cent to close at N2.93, while FCMB Group shed 2.27 per cent to close at N2.15 per share.

Transactions in the shares of UACN Property Development Company (UPDC) topped the activity chart with 947.74 million shares valued at N663.67 million.

Access Bank followed with 22.70 million shares worth N144.99 million, while Guaranty Trust Bank traded 10.92 million shares valued at N279.42 million.

Fidelity Bank traded 8.47 million shares worth N14.83 million, while Lasaco Assurance transacted 8.07 million shares valued at N2.09 million.

In all, the volume of shares traded grew by 255.3 per cent with an exchange of 1.07 billion shares worth N2.10 billion traded in 3,221 deals.

This was in contrast with a total of 302.01 million shares valued at N2.63 billion achieved in 3,854 deals on Monday.