Equities market opens week positive, gains N60bn

The domestic equity market Monday opened the week bullish, appreciating by N60 billion as bulls dominated trading activities during the day.

Market capitalisation of listed equities appreciated by 0.07 per cent to N91.561 trillion from N91.501 trillion it closed on Friday.

The NGX All Share Index also increased by 94.26 basis points to 144722.47 points from 144628.20 points.

The positive performance of the stocks market during the day was driven by gains recorded in the shares of Cadbury Nigeria Plc, Custodian Insurance, Nascon, Unilever Nigeria Plc, Cornerstone Insurance among others.

The market breath was positive with 41 advancers against 27 decliners, bringing year to date return to 40.61 per cent.

Volume of transactions declined by 228.00 million representing 16.59 per cent to 1.146 billion shares against 1.374 billion traded the previous day. But the value of trades up by N2.250 billion representing 16.16 per cent to settle at N16.173 in 38160 deals.

An analysis of the trading for the day showed that

AIICO Insurance and UPDC led gainers table with 10 per cent each to close at N4.18 and N7.15 per unit respectively. Cornerstone Insurance followed with a gain of 9.99 per cent to N7.60 per unit, Deap Capital gained 9.94 per cent to N1.77 per share while Custodian Insurance added 9.93 per cent to close at N40.95 per share.

On the contrary, Stanbic IBTC topped losers chart dropping by 9.99 per cent to close at N100.00, PZ trailed with loss of 7.89 per cent to close at N35.00, NEM insurance down by 7.85 per cent to close at N29.95 per share, Chams Plc declined by 5.26 per cent to close at N2.70 per share, TIPs fell by 5.11 per cent to close at N13.00 per unit.

Transactions in the shares of Universal insurance led market activities with 202.248 million shares valued at N265.823 million,

Champion Breweries followed with account of 103.230 million shares worth N1.158 billion, Linkage Assurance traded 77.898 million shares valued at N206.547 million, Lasaco Insurance exchanged 66.419 million shares cost N263.821 million while Mutual Benefits traded 57.812 million shares valued at N244.480 million.