Tier-1 banks pull equity market up by N9bn

The equity market rebounded on Tuesday with a N9 billion gain, driven by renewed investor interest in Tier-one banking stocks.

Gains in Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO), Zenith Bank and Stanbic IBTC, among others, boosted market performance.

The Nigerian Exchange Ltd. (NGX) market capitalisation, which opened at N59.169 trillion, rose by 0.01 per cent to close at N59.178 trillion.

Similarly, the All-Share Index increased by 14 points or 0.01 per cent, settling at 97,639.88 from 97,626.27 on Monday.

The Year-to-Date (YTD) return improved to 30.58 per cent, though market breadth closed slightly negative with 25 losers against 24 gainers.

On the losers’ chart, Multiverse led by 9.92 per cent to close at N5.90 per share, while Halden McCall led the gainers’ chart by 9.98 per cent to close at N6.17 per share.

Also, analysis of the market activities showed trade turnover settled lower relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions decreasing by 24.52 per cent.

A total of 552.11 million shares valued at N8.03 billion were exchanged in 9,305 deals, compared with 671.26 million shares valued at N10.64 billion traded in 10,464 deals, posted previously.

Meanwhile, Tantalizers led the activity chart in volume with 36.99 million shares, while WAPCO led in value of deals worth N978.7 million.