Bullish sentiment returned to the Nigerian Exchange Ltd on Monday following investors’ interest in the agricultural and the consumer goods sectors, which ensured the first gain of the week.
The upturn was impacted by gains recorded in large and medium capitalised stocks, amongst which are Okumuoil , Presco, Cadbury, Nigerian Breweries, International Breweries and Champion.
Specifically, the market capitalization garnered ₦263 billion or 0.98 per cent to close at N27.024 trillion from ₦;26.761 trillion on Friday.
Also, the All-Share Index advanced by or 0.98 per cent to close at 50,126.41 against 49.638.94 achieved on Friday.
Accordingly, the month-to-date gain printed 1.0 per cent while the year-to-date gain increased to 17.4 per cent, respectively.
Analysts at Vetiva Dealing and Brokage said, “Just as expected, investors took profit today as we saw more stocks closing in the red compared to Friday.
“However, sectors like consumer goods, agriculture and industrials moderated the effect of the profit taking activities and we are likely to see these sectors maintain their green close tomorrow.”
Analysing by sectors, the insurance, oil and gas as well as the banking declined by 3.8 per cent, 1.4 per cent, and 1.0 per cent respectively, while the consumer goods gained by 3.3 per cent and industrial goods by 3.0 per cent.
Overall, the market was positive with 31 gainers relative to 27 losers.
Wema Bank and Okumu Oil drove the gainers’ chart in percentage terms by 10 per cent each to close at ₦3.85per share and ₦161.70 per share, respectively.
Nigerian Breweries followed with a gain of 9.98 per cent to close at ₦62.80, while Presco rose by 9.97 per cent to close at ₦157.70 per share.
Eterna Oil went up by 9.96 per cent to close at N6.62.
On the other hand, Oando Plc led the losers’ chart in percentage terms by 10 per cent to close at ₦5.67 per share.
TransExpress followed with 9.88 per cent to close at 73k per share.
Mansard Insurance shed 8.64 per cent to close at N2.20, while Ikeja Hotel lost 7.14 per cent to close at N1.30 per share.
Cutix dropped by 6.15 per cent to close at N2.29 per cent.
Also, the total volume traded declined by 89.55 per cent to 669.3 million units valued at N5.988 billion and exchanged in 7, 251 deals.
Transactions in the shares of Union Bank of Nigeria topped the activity chart with 263.65 million shares valued at N1.66 million.
Transcorp followed with 74.06 million shares worth N86.72 million, while AIICO traded 31.03 million shares valued at ₦24.72 million.
Chams traded 28.93 million shares valued at N6.65 million, while Access Bank transacted 23.81 million shares worth ₦229.51 million.
