Stocks: Bulls march forward with N68bn gain to begin March

Stocks: Bulls march forward with N68bn gain to begin March

Starting the month of March and a new trading week, investors received respite to the tune of N68 billion on Monday with the forward march of the bulls that raised equities index by 0.33 per cent.

The positive of the day was driven by bargain buying on BUACEMENT (+3.8 per cent), ZENITHBANK (+1.4 per cent), and UBA (+2.5 per cent).

Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) added 131.74 points to close at 39,931.63 index points while market cap appreciated to N20.892 trillion. Consequently, the Month-to-Date (MtD) return settled at +0.3 per cent, while the Year-to-Date (YtD) loss moderated to -0.8 per cent.

The total volume of trades increased by 7.3 per cent to 543.99 million units, valued at N1.89 billion (22.71 per cent lower than previous turnover value) and exchanged in 4,673 deals.

WEMABANK was the most traded stock by volume at 369.68 million units, while ZENITHBANK was the most traded stock by value at N529.07 million.

Analysing by sectors, the Industrial Goods (+1.5 per cent) and Banking (+0.3 per cent) indices recorded gains, while the Insurance (-1.1 per cent), Consumer Goods (-0.5 per cent), and Oil & Gas (-0.1 per cent) indices closed in the red.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative (0.4x), as 28 tickers declined, relative to 12 gainers.

Top gainers

• UACN up 6.67% to close at N8
• AIICO up 5.22% to close at N1.21
• VERITASKAP up 5.00% to close at N0.21
• BUACEMENT up 3.82% to close at N74.75
• NEIMETH up 2.73% to close at N1.88

Top losers

• NASCON down 9.97% to close at N14.45
• CHAMPION down 9.92% to close at N2.27
• PZ down 9.43% to close at N4.8
• LASACO down 8.94% to close at N1.12
• SOVRENINS down 7.41% to close at N0.25