Market Gains N38bn As HY 2020 Earnings Trigger Buying Pressure.

The first trading session on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) after the Sallah break ended on a positive note on Monday following the 0.29 per cent growth recorded.

This was buoyed by bargain hunters, who began to mop up some value stocks following the release of some half-year earnings of companies trading on the exchange.

So far, the results have been quite impressive considering the global crisis caused by COVID-19; though the market still awaits the financial statements of four of the big five banks. Only FBN Holdings has released its HY’20 results.

At the close of transactions yesterday, the All-Share Index (ASI) appreciated by 72.39 points to 24,766.12 points from 24,693.73 points, while the market capitalization increased by N38 billion to N12.920 trillion from N12.882 trillion.

During the trading day, Transcorp was investors’ darling as the company transacted a total of 23.4 million shares valued at N14.4 million.

Custodian Investment, which announced acquiring 51 percent stake of UAC Nigeria in UPDC yesterday, traded 19.1 million stocks for N97.7 million.

Also, GTBank transacted 18.2 million shares for N411.6 million, FBN Holdings exchanged 13.5 million equities worth N69.7 million, while UBA traded 9.7 million shares for N60.5 million.

In all, a total of 186.5 million shares worth N1.3 billion exchanged hands on Monday in 4,718 deals compared with the 101.6 million stocks worth N973.6 million traded in 3,685 deals in the preceding session.

This indicated an 83.57 percent rise in the trading volume, a 34.52 percent growth in the trading value, and a 28.03 percent increase in the number of deals.

The market closed with 19 price gainers and 16 price losers yesterday, with Flour Mills taking the juiciest spot on the risers’ table after appreciating by N1.70 to close at N18.75 per unit.

BUA Cement gained 80 kobo to trade at N40.20 per share, GlaxoSmithKline improved by 40 kobo to sell for N5.30 per share, GTBank gained 35 kobo to close at N22.85 per unit, while Neimeth appreciated by 15 kobo to quote at N1.65 per unit.

On the losers’ end, UAC Nigeria lost 70 kobo to top the chart at N6.30 per unit and was closely followed by Dangote Sugar, which lost 45 kobo yesterday to trade at N11.50 per share.

Custodian Investment depreciated by 40 kobo to sell for N5.10 per share, NEM Insurance went down by 10 kobo to quote at N1.90 per unit, while AIICO Insurance declined by 9 kobo to trade at 85 kobo per unit.

A look at the performance of the five key sectors of the market on Monday showed that only the insurance segment closed negative with a decline of 2.35 percent.

The industrial goods counter appreciated by 0.78 percent, the banking space grew by 0.70 percent, while the consumer goods index gained 0.13 percent, with the energy index closing flat.