Oluwasina Phillip
Equities trading at the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX), on Monday, was bullish as the All Share Index (ASI) gains 0.47 per cent to close at 38,437.88 basis points.
The positive outing brought the Year-to-Date (YtD) performance of the ASI to stand at -4.55 per cent.
Consequently, the bullish move pushed the equities market capitalisation to cross above the N20 trillion mark to stand at N20.035 trillion as investors earned N95 billion.
The market breadth, however, failed to move in conformity with the All-Share Index as 17 counters in the gainers’ chart were matched with 23 counters in the losers’ chart.
The performance chart indicated that MRS, Vitafoam, Chams, PZ and AIICO Insurance led the top gainer’s list as the best-performing stocks with 9.6 per cent, 8.9 per cent, 5.0 per cent, 3.8 per cent and 3.5 per cent respective increase.
Conversely, Royal Exchange, Chi PLC, Neimeth Pharmaceutical, Mutual Benefit and Regal Insurance populated the top losers’ chart.
Most sectoral indices closed in tandem with the ASI save for the Insurance and Consumer Goods sectors that lost 0.51 per cent and 0.21 per cent respectively as NSE ASEM closed flat.
Market activity as measured by the volume of trades declined in the session with daily traded volume standing at 202 million units, an 11.73 per cent decrease from a volume of 229 million units traded in the previous session.
Market turnover also followed suit as it dipped in the session by 42.26 per cent to stand at N2.120 billion against a value of N3.671 billion recorded in the previous trading session.
Vertas Kapital was the most traded stock of the day, as it is flanked in the trading session by Fidelity Bank, Zenith Bank, Access Bank and FBN Holdings to complete the list of the five most traded stocks in terms of volume of trades.
With regards to the value of traded stocks, Zenith Bank, Seplat, Nestlé, Dangote Cement and Flour Mills of Nigeria made up the top five performers.