By Rukayat Adeyemi
The Nigerian Stock market opened the week on a positive note to add N795 billion to the portfolios of investors.
The performance was driven by the listing of 4.706 billion ordinary shares of Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc(GTCO) at N44.50 per share.
Accordingly, the market capitalisation which opened at N63.645 trillion, increased by N795 billion to close at N64.440 trillion.
The All-Share Index also rose by 0.79 per cent to close at 104,418.95, against 103,598.46 recorded on Friday.
As a result, the Year-To-Date (YTD) return advanced to 1.45 per cent.
Market breadth closed positive with 39 gainers and 30 losers on the floor of the Exchange.
On the gainers’ chart, Beta Glass led by 9.98 per cent to close at N65, RT Briscoe followed by 9.92 per cent to close at N2.77 per share.
Access Corporation added 9.88 per cent to close at N27.80, Chellarams Plc rose by 9.83 per cent to close at N4.47 and Sky Aviation appreciated by 9.80 per cent to close at N35.40 per share.
On the losers’ chart, MRS led by 10 per cent to close at N180.90, Transcorp Hotel trailed by 9.97 per cent to close at N114.65 per share.
Eunisell dropped 9.95 per cent to close at N11.40, JohnHolt went down by 9.64 per cent to close at N7.50, while Caverton declined by 9.40 per cent to close at N2.12 per share.
Trading activity on the NGX was robust, with the value of transactions up by 54.72 per cent.
Investors traded 518.28 million shares across 17,196 deals in value of N13.3 billion, compared with 569.63 million shares exchanged in 11,282 deals worth N8.6 billion posted in the previous session.
Access Corporation led the activity chart in volume with 51 million shares exchanged across 1,053 deals, while Zenith Bank led in value of deals worth N1.7 billion.
Ahead of the week, Analysts at Cowry Asset Management Ltd., had predicted that the current positive market sentiment is expected to persist.
The analysts said this would be supported by the release of corporate earnings and anticipated corporate actions.
They noted that the financial results published so far have been encouraging, providing a foundation for sustained price support and attracting fresh capital inflows into the market.
“Moreover, the prevailing low valuation of many stocks continues to create opportunities for investors to buy into value and strategically reposition their portfolios.
“However, the market may experience bouts of volatility as the earnings season progresses.
“Mixed macroeconomic data and upcoming economic events are likely to influence market sentiment particularly for companies with December year-end financials,”they said.
