Bargain-hunting in MTN, others, lift NSE fortunes by N14b

Transactions on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), reopened upbeat in the first trading day of August, occasioned by bargain-hunting in the shares of some blue chips, especially MTN Nigeria, NASCON Allied Industries (NASCON), as market capitalisation rose by N14 billion to N13.522 trillion..

Yesterday, the All Share Index (ASI) also rose by 30.20 points or 0.11 per cent to 27,748.46 points. The upturn was impacted by gains recorded in medium and highly capitalised stocks, amongst which were; MTN Nigeria, NASCO, Berger Paints Nigeria, Fidson Healthcare, and Flour Mills of Nigeria (Flourmill).

Analysts at Cordros Capital Limited, said: “Amidst mixed corporate earnings, our outlook for equities in the short to medium term remains conservative.”Despite the value-gain, market breadth however remained negative, 12 stocks posted gains while 16 declined. Fidson Healthcare recorded the highest price gain of 9.76 per cent to close at N4.50 per share.

Berger Paints followed with 9.65 per cent to close at N6.25, while NASCON appreciated 6.87 per cent to close at N14, per share.Honeywell Flour Mills rose 5.26 per cent to close at N1.00, and Unity Bank 3.03 per cent to close at 68 kobo, per share.

On the other hand, Eterna led the losers’ chart with 10 per cent to close at N2.70 per share. NCR Nigeria followed with 8.62 per cent to close at N5.30, while Forte Oil fell 8.14 to close at N18.05, per share. Wapic Insurance lost 7.14 per cent to close at 39 kobo, while Japaul Oil & Maritime Services shed 4.76 per cent to close at 20 kobo, per share.

Also, total volume traded was down 61.35 per cent to 97.36 million shares, worth N1.77 billion, traded in 2,936 deals. Transactions in the shares of Zenith Bank topped the activity chart with 11.59 million shares valued at N212.74million.
United Bank for Africa (UBA) followed with 11.22 million shares worth N67.04 million, while Lafarge Africa traded 10.21 million shares at N147.01 million.Guaranty Trust Bank traded 8.37 million shares valued at N235.11 million, while Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp) transacted 7.18 million shares worth N6.90 million.