The equities segment of the Nigerian Stock Exchange rose on Monday, buoyed by the activities of bargain hunters.
Resultant gains from the bargain activities by 30 stocks, led by Forte Oil Plc, aided the NSE All-Share Index to a 1.2 per cent or 395.7 basis points appreciation to close at 33,249.19 basis points.
The market capitalisation of the listed equities also rose by 1.2 per cent or N135bn to close at N11.350tn, as against the 0.81 per cent depreciation that saw it close at N11.215tn on Friday.
Forte Oil Plc, which was the day’s biggest gainer, rose by N9.1 to close at N191.1 per share.
Other big gainers, which boosted the main market indicators, include Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc with a N8.81 share price appreciation that saw it close at N340.06 per share and Guinness Nigeria Plc, which jumped by N7.67 to close at N161.17 per share.
Dangote Cement Plc appreciated by N4 to close at N174 per share, while Cadbury Nigeria Plc rose by N1.35 to close at N36.5 per share.
Although the equities market closed higher on Monday, 20 stocks declined in value.
Major losers include Mobil Nigeria Plc, which fell by N3.85 to close at N1.55 per share.
Nestle Nigeria Plc was down by N2.25 to close at N889.2 per share with Nigerian Breweries Plc shedding 81 kobo to close at N147.2 per share.
GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria Plc dipped by five kobo to close at N43.5, while the Cement Company of Northern Nigeria Plc was down by three kobo to close at N10.2 per share.
A total of 351.512 million shares worth N5.237bn were traded on the floor of the Exchange in 3,982 deals, compared to the 335.409 million shares valued at N9.017bn that were exchanged by investors in 3,462 deals on Friday.
Access Bank Plc was the most traded stock on Monday with 94.6 million units traded. It was followed by Oando Plc and FBN Holdings Plc, which ended the day with 54.7 million and 29.9 million units traded, respectively.
Fidelity Bank accounted for 21.8 million of the shares traded on Monday, while Sterling Bank Plc accounted for 18.4 million shares.
The NSE ASI and market capitalisation had depreciated by1.22 per cent last week to close at 32,853.49 basis points and N11.215tn, respectively.
And capital market analysts had said they expected the negative trend to continue.
“Following a flurry of negative political and market headlines last week and in the absence of positive market catalysts, we expect bearish market sentiment to persist into the week ahead,” analysts at Vetiva Capital Management Limited said in their commentary on last week’s activities in the capital market.
Also, reviewing last week’s activities in their investment guide, analysts at Meristem Securities Limited explained that they didn’t a change in market trend in the short term.
They said, “While we acknowledge that most stocks in the equities basket are fairly valued at current market prices, we do not expect the persistent bearish trend in the market so far in 2015, to wane in the near term.
“We opine that the fragile state of the economy, evident in unfavourable key indicators such as rising rate of inflation, weakening currency, dwindling reserves, rising public debt and relatively slow momentum of economic growth, will continue to impact negatively on investors’ sentiments.”
But Monday’s performance showed that the market had virtually erased last week’s losses.
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