NGX opens positive, market cap increases by N465bn

The stock market, on Monday, recorded a gain of N465 billion or 0.50 per cent, boosting investor portfolios.

The Nigerian Exchange Ltd. (NGX) market capitalisation increased from N93.295 trillion at the opening to N93.760 trillion at the close of trading on Monday.

Similarly, the All-Share Index (ASI) advanced by 0.50 per cent or 729.19 points, closing at 147,717.23 compared to 146,988.04 recorded on Friday.

Market activity was driven by increased demand for equities such as Sovereign Trust Insurance, Regency Alliance Insurance, Transcorp Power, Consolidated Hallmark Holdings, Halldane McCall and 20 other stocks.

The market breadth closed flat with 25 gainers and 25 losers.

On the gainers’ chart, Sovereign Trust Insurance led by 9.97 per cent, closing at N3.53, Regency Alliance Insurance trailed by 9.68 per cent, settling at N1.36 and Transcorp Power gained by 8.92 per cent, finishing at N342 per share.

Consolidated Hallmark Holdings grew by 7.14 per cent, ending the session at N4.50 while Halldane Mc Call soared by 6.80 per cent, closing at N4.40 per share.

Conversely, Tripple Gee led the losers’ chart by 9.92 per cent, finishing at N5.45, Wema Bank followed by 4.51 per cent, ending the session at N19.05 while Livingtrust Mortgage Bank dipped by 3.85 per cent, settling at N5 per share.

NGX Group declined by 36.33 per cent, closing at N58 and Cutix shed by 3.08 per cent, settling at N3.78 per share.

An assessment of the market activity revealed an overall improvement in the market deals, volume and value as 624.61 million shares worth N13.5 billion were exchanged across 31,563 transactions.

This is compared to 386.6 million shares worth N11.26 billion traded across 21,842 deals earlier on Friday.

Transactions in the shares of Consolidated Hallmark topped the activity chart in volume with 210.5 million shares valued at N909.6 million.

Fidelity Bank followed with 47.5 million shares worth N951.82 million while CHAMS sold 43.96 million shares valued at N191.6 million.

Universal Insurance traded 29.9 million shares worth N32.3 million and Sovereign Trust Insurance transacted 23.3 million shares valued at N80.3 million.