Investors open week with N300bn gain

The positive run on  the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) persisted on Monday as buying interest in Dangote Cement  (+10 per cent), WAPCO (+2.3 per cent) and OANDO (+9.9 per cent) saw investors gain ₦333.8 billion as market capitalisation settled at ₦19.6 trillion

Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) advanced by 174 basis points (bps) to settle at 37,443.40 points while year to date return rose to 39.5 per cent.

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Activity level was mixed as volume traded increased by 0.2% to 427.1 million units while value traded decreased by 24.1% to ₦3.3 billion.

The most liquid stocks by volume were Mansard (90.2m units), Transcorp (36.6m units) and AIICO (22.9m units) while Dangote Cement (₦1.3bn), Guaranty (₦372.3m) and Zenith (₦298.1m) led the value chart.

Performance was mixed across sectors as three indicators closed in the green, two lost while the AFR-ICT index was flat.

The Banking index was the worst performer as it shed 1.1% due to profit-taking in Zenith (-2%), Guaranty (-0.7%) and Access (-1.2%).

Likewise, the Consumer Goods index dipped 14bps, mirroring sell-offs in International Brewery (-2.7%) and Unilever (-2.8%).

The Industrial Goods and Insurance indices were up 5.5% and 5.1% on the back of price appreciation in Dangote Cement (+9.1%), WAPCO (+2.3%) and Mansard (+9.8%).

The Oil & Gas indicator climbed 0.7% higher on the back of buying interest in OANDO (+9.9%).

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth decreased to 1.0x from the 4.4x recorded in the previous session as 22 stocks gained against the 23 that declined.