by Janet Olushola
Closing the first month of the year, the Nigerian stock market today closed higher as the capitalisation gained N44 billion.
Consequently, the All Share Index (ASI) rose by 80.84 absolute points, representing a gain of 0.15 per cent to close at 53,238.67 points. Accordingly, investors gained N44 billion in value as market capitalisation went up to N28.998 trillion.
The upturn was impacted by gains recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Geregu Power, Chemical & Allied Products (CAP), Nigerian Exchange Group (NGXGroup), Northern Nigeria Flour Mills (NNFM) and Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI).
Market breadth closed positive as 29 stocks posted gains while 18 stocks posted declines. Veritas Kapital Assurance, LivingTrust Mortgage Bank and Geregu Power recorded the highest price gain of 10 per cent each to close at 22 kobo, N1.98 and N193.60, per share.
John Holt went up by 9.92 per cent to close at N1.33, while SCOA Nigeria appreciated by 9.78 per cent to close at N1.01, per share. On the other hand, Chams and NCR Nigeria led the losers’ chart by 10 per cent each to close at 27 kobo and N3.24, while Unity Bank followed with a decline of 9.09 per cent to close at 50 kobo, per share.
Royal Exchange lost 8.97 per cent to close at 71 kobo, while Japaul Gold & Ventures shed 8.33 per cent to close at 33 kobo, per share.
The total volume traded grew by 24.25 per cent to 250.192 million shares, worth N5.885 billion, and traded in 4,328 deals. Transactions in the shares of Universal Insurance topped the activity chart with 48.554 million shares valued at N9.711 million. Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) followed with 14.159 million shares worth N353.773 million, while Zenith Bank traded 12.517 million shares valued at N315.023 million.
Access Holdings traded 11.570 million shares valued at N104.883 million, while Unity Bank transacted 10.879 million shares worth N5.476 million.
