Stock market commences December on green, extends gains by N55bn

The Nigerian equities market extends bullish run to commence a new month as the first trading session in the month of December was characterized with a positive outlook.

At 35,042.14 basis points, the bourse All-Share Index (ASI) inched up by 0.30 per cent from 35,147.62 basis points pegging Year-to-Date (YtD) returns at +30.94 per cent.

Similarly, the monetary value of equity investment in the market rose by N55 billion to close higher at N18.365 trillion, having advanced by the percentage point as the ASI.

However, Market breadth closed negative as CAVERTON led 16 Gainers as against 21 Losers topped by CORNEST at the end of today’s session.

Market turnover closes negative as volume dropped by 25.83 per cent at 308.181 million share units valued at N3.403 billion as against 118.38 per cent uptick recorded in the previous session.

Trading statistics by the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) showed that the bull charge were led to GUARANTY, gaining N1.80 to close at N35 per share followed by SEPLAT which added N1.60 to its share prices to close at N402 per share.

Similarly, ZenithBank closed the day with N0.40 price gain at N24.40 per share while CAVERTON and CUTIX gained N0.17 and N0.15 to close at N1.89 and N1.68 per share respectively.

Conversely, Guinness led declining stocks following N0.55 loss to close at N18.35 per share. Flourmill trailed with N0.25 decline to close at N27.60 per share.

Other declining stocks are MTN Nigeria, FCMB and UBA, shedding N0.20, N0.12 and N0.10 to close at N155, N3.21 and N8.20 per share accordingly.

While market watchers ascribed the development to renewed confidence as bargain hunters continue to leverage undervalued stocks, analysts at APT Securities affirmed “We expect more Bullish run amidst short term profit-taking as the trading week unfold.”