Total Plc Leads As Stock Market Bounces Back With N330bn Gain

The Nigerian equities market posted significant gains on Thursday as traders resumed from the Sallah holidays, increasing market capitalisation by N330 billion.

The market activity showed that investors came with a lot of bullish strength as all major sectors appreciated with the exception of the insurance sector.

The NGX All-Share Index (ASI) gained 632.87 points or 1.67 percent to close at 38,585.52, which translated to a N330 billion increase in market cap to N20.103 trillion.

As a result, the ASI's month-to-date gain increased to 1.8 percent, while the year-to-date loss moderated to 4.2 percent.

The positive performance was driven by price appreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks amongst which are; Dangote Cement, Total Nigeria, Cutix, Vitafoam, and Oando.

The market closed with strong positive sentiment as there were 22 gainers relative to 12 losers.

Total championed the gainers’ chart with 10 percent to close at N184.80 per share. Cutix followed with a gain of 9.77 percent to close at N4.38, while Oando appreciated by 9.73 percent to close at N3.61 per share.

Dangote Cement rose by 7.83 percent to close at N248, while Courteville Business Solutions gained 4.55 percent to close at 23kobo per share.

On the other hand, AIICO Insurance led the losers’ chart in percentage terms by 8.70 percent to close at N1.05 per share.

Sovereign Trust Insurance followed with a 6.45 percent decline to close at 29kobo, while Veritas Kapital Assurance lost 4 percent to close at 24kobo per share.

Livestock Feeds lost 3.55 percent to close at N1.90, while Ardova shed 3.23 percent to close at N15 per share.

Meanwhile, the total volume of shares traded dropped by 58.3 percent to 203.11 million shares valued at N1.72 billion in 3,969 deals.

This was lower compared with 462.81 million shares worth N1.19 billion exchanged in 3,610 deals on Monday.

Sterling Bank topped the activity chart with 22.49 million shares valued at N33.80 million. United Capital followed with 16.90 million shares worth N115.11 million, while Fidelity Bank traded 14.06 million shares valued at N33.69 million.

Wema Bank sold 13.96 million shares worth N12.24 million, while Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) transacted 13.30 million shares valued at N392.12 million.