Renewed bargain-hunting lifts capitalisation by N317bn

The equities market reversed losses to close in an upbeat yesterday, occasioned by renewed bargain hunting in most blue-chip stocks, especially Airtel Africa and Unity Bank Plc as market capitalisation soared by N317 billion.

Specifically, at the close of transactions, yesterday, on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX), market capitalisation of listed equities increased by N317 billion to N20.411 trillion from N20.094 trillion reported on Monday.

The NGX All Share Index also went up by 609.36 basis points or 1.6 per cent to 39176.62 points from 38567.26 points recorded the previous day.

Volume of trading also increased by 279.579 basis points or 143.4 per cent, as Investors traded 474.528 million shares valued at N3.982 billion in 4161 deals against 194.949 million shares worth 1.014 billion exchanged in 3830 deals.

Analysts at Afrinvest said: “ We expect to see a mix of profit taking and bargain hunting in the domestic equities market in the next trading session.”

Vetiva Dealing and Brokerage said: “Market traded up today (yesterday) due to cross trades in GTCO and some large cap names closing the day positive. We expect to see activity level trade mix in tomorrow’s session as investors continue to bargain hunt across sectors.”

On the price movement chart, Airtel Africa led the gainers’ chart, appreciating by 10 per cent to N715 while Unity Bank followed with a gain of 7.14 per cent to close at 60 kobo.

Veritas Kapital increased by 4.35 per cent to 24 kobo. Courteville Business Solution added 4.17 per cent to close at 25 kobo. Caverton gained 3.89 per cent to N1.87 kobo.

On the contrary, Juli Plc topped losers’ chart, dropping by 9.01 per cent to close at N1.01 kobo, Chi Plc trailed with a loss of 6.90 per cent to close at N0.54 kobo.

Jaiz Bank dropped by 4.84 per cent to N0.59 kobo, Sunu Assurance fell by 4.26 per cent to N0.45 kobo while LiveStock Feeds dropped by 3.06 per cent to close at N1.90 kobo.

On the activity chart, BOC Gas was the most active stock during the day, exchanging 249.765 million shares valued at N1.373 billion, GTCO Plc followed with an account of 37.281 million shares costing N1.044 billion.

Ecobank Transnational Incorporated traded 24.121 million shares at N131.021 million, Jaiz Bank traded 18.646 million shares at N11.552 million, FBNHoldings sold a total of 10.301 million shares costing N74.999 million.