Buoyed by gains in the shares of Nestle, Dangote Sugar and GT Bank, Nigeria’s stock market started the trading week on a positive note as the All Share Index (ASI) climbed up by 0.16 per cent to settle at 27,035.78 points.

Furthermore, year-to-date (YTD) loss softened to -14.0 per cent while market capitalisation appreciated by N21 billion to close Monday’s session at N13.048 trillion.

Also, activity level improved as volume and value traded increased 11.3 and 13.1 per cent to 230.65 million units and N3.20 billion respectively, exchanged in 4,254 deals.

Zenith Bank was active with the sale of 42.33 million shares valued at N798.18 million. GT Bank traded 26.01 million shares worth N775.72 million while FBN Holdings transacted about 19.74 million shares valued at N140.49 million.

Reacting to the development, market analysts say that they expect the bourse to see sustained gains even as investors continue to take positions in fundamentally sound stocks given the OMO and T-bills restrictions.

Market breadth remained positive with 20 stocks advancing while 14 others declined. Law Union topped the gainers’ list with 10 per cent to close at 0.66 kobo, Jaiz Bank followed with 9.52 per cent to close at 0.69 kobo while Presco increased by 9.39 per cent to close at N37.85 per share.

 

NAN