The Nigerian Capital Market sustained a rising profile at the end of yesterday’s transactions as buying interest in United Capital and 25 stocks lifted market capitalisation by N85 billion.
The upturn was driven by price appreciation in large and medium-capitalised stocks amongst which are United Capital, Access Holdings, Zenith Bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA), and Flour Mills of Nigeria.
Reacting to market performance, analysts at Afrinvest Research said: “Investors sentiments as measured by market breadth worsened by -0.01× from 0.26× in the previous session as 26 stocks advanced, while 27 declined. Tomorrow (today) we expect the market to follow a similar trend in the absence of any major shock.”
Ikeja Hotels rose by 9.2 per cent to close at N4.75, while DAAR Communications and eTranzact International appreciated by 7.69 per cent each to close at 42 kobo and N7.
On the other side, R.T. Briscoe Nigeria led others on the losers’ chart with 9.84 percent to close at 55 kobo. UPDC Real Estate Investment Trust followed with a decline of 9.78 per cent to close at N4.15 kobo, while Mutual Benefits Assurance shed 9.43 per cent to close at 48 kobo. Omatek Ventures lost 7.79 per cent to close at 71 kobos, while Sovereign Trust Insurance depreciated by 7.69 per cent to close at 36 kobos.
The total volume traded rose by 3.09 per cent to 446.583 million units, valued at N7.256 billion, and exchanged in 6,845 deals. Transactions in the shares of Access Holdings led the activity with 77.255 million shares worth N1.756 billion.
FCMB Group followed with an account of 45.235 million shares valued at N318.609 million, while Zenith Bank traded 37.29 million shares valued at N1.380 billion. UBA traded 29.301 million shares worth N724.064 million, while Fidelity Bank traded 27.512 million shares worth N257.281 million.
