Gains in Zenith, GTB boost stock market performance by 0.3%, investors gain N39.6bn

August 5, 2020 9:01 am

Activities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) extended a positive trend on Tuesday with gains in Zenith Bank (3.7 percent), Guaranty Trust Bank (1.3 percent) and Nigerian Breweries (3.2 percent).

The all-share index (ASI) rose to 0.3 percent higher to settle at 24,841.94 points, compared to 24,766.12 points recorded on Monday.

This made investors gain N39.6 billion as market capitalisation increased to N13.0 trillion.

Month-to-date (MTD) increased by 0.6 percent as against Monday at 0.3 percent, while year-to-date (YTD) loss eased to -7.5 percent, a drop from -7.7 percent on Monday.

Activity level was mixed as volume traded declined 17.2 percent to 154.4 million units, while value traded advanced 11.3 percent to N1.5 billion.

This was in contrast to a total of 186.5 million shares valued at N1.3 billion achieved in 4,718 deals on Monday.

The top traded stocks by volume were Transcorp (13.5 million units), FBN Holdings (11.7 million units) and WAPCO (9.0 million units). Meanwhile, the top traded stocks by value were Nigerian Breweries (N283.8 million), GTB (N175.1 million); and MTN Nigeria (N140.4 million).

Performance across the top five Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) sectors were bullish as 4 of 5 indices advanced except the industrial index which declined by 0.03 percent.

The insurance and banking indices advanced 2.7 percent and 1.6 percent, respectively, due to buying interest in AXA Mansard Insurance (9.7 percent), AIICO Insurance (4.7 percent), Zenith Bank and GTB.

Similarly, the oil and gas index rose 0.2 percent owing to price appreciation in Seplat Petroleum (3.5 percent) and Oando (2.2 percent).

Finally, gains in Nigerian Breweries and Flour Mills of Nigeria (4.0 percent) drove the consumer goods index 0.1 percent higher to close trade for Tuesday.

Market breadth strengthened as 23 stocks advanced against the 10 decliners.

The top gainers were AXA Mansard Insurance; UAC of Nigeria (8.7 percent) and Jaiz Bank (7.3 percent) while Chemical and Allied Products Plc (-9.9 percent), Total Plc (-9.9 percent) and Ardova (-9.7 percent) were the top losers.