Equity market gains N97bn

The Nigerian equity market on Wednesday returned to bullish run, appreciating by N97 billion as bulls dominated activities of the day.

Market capitalisation of listed equities increased by 0.18 per cent to N55.130 trillion from N55.033 trillion reported the previous day.

The NGX All Share Index also appreciated by 170.26 basis points to 97098.98 points from 96928.52 points reported on Wednesday.

The good performance of the market was driven primarily by gain gains recorded on the shares of GTCO Plc, FBNHoldings, AccessCorp, United Capital, Zenith Bank, ETI Honey Well Flour and 20 other companies.

As result year to date return went up to 29.86 per cent as NGX printed 27 gainers against 22 losers.

A review of the investment during the day showed that Redstarex led gainers table, growing by 10 per cent to close at N4.18 per unit, Oando Plc followed with a gain of 9.90 per cent to close at N33.60 per share, RTBriscoe added 9.90 per cent to close at N1.11 per unit, United Capital gained 9.90 per cent to close at N16.10 per share while IMG u by 9.87 per cent to close at N17.25 per share.

On the contrary, Neimeth international Pharmaceutical topped losers chart, dropping by 7.69 per cent to close at N1.80 per unit, Honey Well Flour Mills trailed with a drop of 6.10 per cent to close at N3.85 per share, Sovereign Trust Insurance grew by 5.50 per cent to close at N0.51 per share, Deap Capital fell by 4.0 per cent to close at N0.45 per unit, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated declined by 3.72 per cent to close at N20.70 per share.

Volume of activities increased by 187.091 million, representing 41.65 per cent as investors traded 636.501 million shares valued at N12.789 billion in 9744 deals against 449.210 million shares worth N6.735 billion exchanged hands the previous day in 9381 deals.

Trading in the shares of Access Holdings led market activities with 112.619 million shares valued at N2.109 billion, United Capital followed with account of 74.420 million shares cost N1.196 billion, GTCO Plc traded 74.339 million shares worth N3.336 billion, VeritasKapital exchanged 55.404 million shares cost N55.084 million, United Bank for Africa sold a total of 40.565 million shares cost N851.718 million.