MTN, Tier-1 banks’ stocks lift NGX gains by N157bn

Renewed interest in MTN Nigeria, alongside sustained interest in Tier-one banks’ stocks on Thursday further raised the equity market higher by 0.27 per cent.

Specifically, investors gained N157 billion or 0.27 per cent, making the market capitalisation which opened at N58.963 trillion, to close at N59.120 trillion.

Consequently, the All-Share Index grew by 0.27 per cent or 278.42 points, to close at 104,562.06, as against 104,283.64  recorded on Wednesday.

As a result, the year-to-date (YTD) return on the index rose to 39.84 per cent.

Buy interest in Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO),  Zenith Bank, Wema Bank, Transnational Corporation, Prestige Assurance, Sovereign Trust Insurance, among other top traders, kept the market in the green.

The market breadth also closed positive with 39 leading equities outnumbering 19 declining stocks on the floor of the Exchange.

Meanwhile, Morison Industries Plc led the gainers table by 10 per cent to close at N1.76, Ikeja Hotel followed by 9.91 per cent to close at N6.43 per share.

Julius Berger gained 9.73 per cent to close at N66, while Omatek appreciated by 9.72 per cent to close at 79k.

UPDC Real Estate Investment Trust went up by 9.57 per cent to close at N5.15 per share.

On the other hand, FTN Cocoa led the losers’ table by 9.60 per cent to close at N1.60

ABC Transport trailed by 9.41 per cent to close at 77k, while Guinea Insurance lost 7.89 per cent to close at 35k.

NGX Group shed 6.75 per cent to close at N21.40 and Chams declined by 6.34 per cent to close at N1.92 per share.

Analysis of the market activities showed trade turnover settled higher relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions up by 36.61 per cent.

A total of 623.08 million shares valued at N16.95 billion were exchanged in 10,257 deals, compared to 499.71 billion shares valued at N12.41 billion exchanged in 10,260 deals posted previously.

Zenith Bank led the activity chart in volume with 88.36 million shares valued at 3.89 billion, followed by GTCO which led in value with 78.68 million shares worth N4.11 billion.

Access Corporation sold 56.74 million shares worth N1.39 billion, UBA traded 54.94 million shares valued at N1.54 billion and Fidelity Bank transacted 50.78 million shares worth N504.23 million. (NAN)

By Rukayat Adeyemi