The Nigerian equities market started August on a positive note, recovering some of the losses recorded in the last three trading sessions of July. Increased buying interest in some major stocks helped push the market higher despite widespread profit-taking.
Gatekeepers News reports that CAVERTON was the biggest gainer of the day, while ETI recorded the largest decline.
The NGX All-Share Index (ASI), which tracks the overall performance of the Nigerian stock market, rose by 0.18% to close at 245,730.53 points, compared with 245,283.68 points in the previous session.
As a result, investors gained about N288.44 billion in market capitalisation, while the market’s year-to-date (YTD) return increased to 57.91%.
The positive performance was supported by gains in several major stocks. ETERNA rose by 10.00%, VITAFOAM gained 7.90%, FIRSTHOLDCO increased by 3.44%, UBA rose by 3.37%, while NASCON gained 2.63%.
Other major gainers included HBMNG (+1.21%), FIDELITYBK (+1.16%), ZENITHBANK (+1.05%), MTNN (+0.96%), GTCO (+0.77%) and ACCESSCORP (+0.19%).
Despite the overall market gain, more stocks declined than gained. A total of 39 stocks closed lower, compared with 25 gainers, showing that selling pressure remained strong across several sectors. However, the gains recorded by some major stocks were enough to keep the overall market in positive territory.
FIRSTHOLDCO also continued its strong performance, reaching a new 52-week high of N134.00, up from N129.55. The stock has continued to attract investors following the company’s strong half-year earnings, improved dividend policy and ongoing share purchases by its Chairman, Femi Otedola.
Other market indicators also closed higher on Monday, with Proshare’s market indexes recording gains of 0.47% and 1.38%, respectively.
Trading Activity
Market activity slowed during the session, with total volume traded falling by 2.12% to 923.01 million units. The trades were valued at N37.85 billion across 72,544 deals.
ACCESSCORP recorded the highest trading volume, with 166.64 million shares traded, representing 18.05% of the day’s total volume.
ARADEL recorded the highest traded value at N4.59 billion, accounting for 12.12% of the total value traded. HONYFLOUR and STERLINGNG followed with 10.14% and 6.18% of total volume, respectively, while ACCESSCORP and MTNN ranked next after ARADEL in terms of value traded.
NASD Market
The unlisted NASD Securities Index (NSI) also closed higher on Monday, gaining 2.08% to 4,523.85 points from 4,431.71 points recorded on Friday.
Trading volume rose to 1.47 million units, valued at N65.24 million across 31 deals.
At the end of the session, two stocks gained while two stocks declined on the NASD OTC market.
Global Markets
Global stock markets closed lower on Monday, with major markets recording broad-based declines. Brazil’s Bovespa was the weakest-performing major index, closing at 177,112.55 points.
Commodities
The AFEX Commodities Index (ACI) remained unchanged at 42.97 points on Monday, while the AFEX Export Index (AEI) also closed flat at 37.88 points.
At the Lagos Commodities and Futures Exchange (LCFE), the prices of Eko Gold, Premium Eko Rice and Eko Rice Classic remained unchanged.
Eko Gold closed at N140,000 per gram, while Premium Eko Rice and Eko Rice Classic remained at N47,000 and N55,000 per 50kg, respectively.
