It was positive start to the week for Nigerian stocks on Monday on the back of sustained bargain-hunting by market participants.
Data revealed that the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited further appreciated by 0.86 per cent yesterday amid a positive market breadth index and strong investor sentiment after the bourse ended with 48 price advancers and 23 price laggards.
AXA Mansard chalked up 10.00 per cent to trade at N15.84, Seplat also appreciated by 10.00 per cent to close at N5,917.20, SFS REIT improved by 9.97 per cent to N381.10, Ellah Lakes gained 9.95 per cent to quote at N14.81, and Chams surged by 9.87 per cent to N4.23.
Conversely, International Energy Insurance lost 8.42 per cent to settle at N2.72, McNichols depreciated by 8.31 per cent to N3.20, Thomas Wyatt crashed by 7.72 per cent to N2.99, Berger Paints slumped by 6.80 per cent to N37.00, and ABC Transport retreated by 5.81 per cent to N4.05.
The busiest stock for the session was Ellah Lakes with 80.1 million units valued at N1.2 billion, Chams exchanged 30.2 million units for N127.3 million, Sterling Holdings sold 24.7 million units worth N205.7 million, Custodian Investment traded 21.8 million units valued at N903.7 million, and GTCO transacted 20.1 million units worth N2.0 billion.
At the close of trades, 519.9 million shares were transacted for N14.6 billion in 35,490 deals on the first trading day of the week compared with the 544.7 million shares valued at N19.6 billion traded in 27,065 deals, indicating a spike in the number of deals by 31.13 per cent, and a shortfall in the trading volume and value by 4.55 per cent and 25.51 per cent apiece.
Business Post reports that the All-Share Index (ASI) was up during the session by 1,238.73 points to 144,822.77 points from 143,584.04 points and the market capitalisation expanded by N787 billion to N91.922 trillion from N91.135 trillion.
The sectorial performance showed that investors were upbeat on Monday as they went on a buying spree, with all the key sectors closing in green.
The energy space rose by 3.35 per cent, the insurance counter appreciated by 3.13 per cent, the commodity sector increased by 1.72 per cent, the consumer goods industry expanded by 1.14 per cent, the banking index gained 0.64 per cent, and the industrial goods landscape jumped by 0.01 per cent.