Equity market rebounds by 0.05% on renewed investor interest

The equity market rebounded by 0.05 per cent on Tuesday, driven by renewed investor interest in banking, insurance and some blue-chip stocks.

The Nigerian Exchange Ltd. (NGX) market capitalisation gained N26 billion or 0.05 per cent to close at N56.606 trillion, up from N56.580 trillion at the opening.

The All-Share Index also advanced by 0.05 per cent or 47 points to close at 100,067.77, compared to 100,020.83 recorded on Monday.

As a result, the Year-To-Date (YTD) return rose to 33.83 per cent.

Investor interest in Zenith Bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA), and Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO), among other advanced equities, pushed the market into positive territory.

However, market breadth closed negative with 28 laggards and 20 leaders on the floor of the Exchange.

On the losers’ log, ETranzact led by dropping 50k to close at N4.50.

Fidson Healthcare Plc trailed by losing N1.45 to close at N13.50, while Cornerstone Insurance lost 20k to close at N1.90 per share.

LASACO Assurance declined by 24k to close at N2.31, UPDC Real Estate Investment Trust shed 45k to close at N5.00, and May & Baker dropped 40k to close at N5.50 per share.

On the other hand, Linkage Assurance led the gainers’ log by adding 10k to close at N1.10.

Africa Prudential followed, gaining 80k to close at N9.00 per share.

Unity Bank gained 15k to close at N1.69, Wapic Insurance rose by 6k to close at 73k, and Sovereign Trust Insurance went up by 4k to close at 49k per share.

Analysis of the market activities showed that trade turnover settled higher relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions increasing by 10.86 per cent.

A total of 365.64 million shares valued at N4.12 billion were exchanged in 8,665 deals, compared to 274.68 million shares valued at N3.71 billion exchanged in 10,112 deals previously.

Universal Insurance led the activity log in volume with 61.53 million shares worth N24.36 million.

AIICO followed with 31.72 million shares valued at N32.51 million.

UBA transacted 25.85 million shares worth N581.91 million, while UCAP led the log in value with 25.27 million shares worth N711.31 million.

NEM Insurance traded 23.26 million shares worth N197.68 million.