Equity investors gain N374bn as NGX-ASI appreciates by 0.63%
Nigeria’s equities market closed bullish, on Friday, marking the fourth consecutive session of gains, extending the gains posted in the previous sessions on sustained investors’ interests in ARADEL (+10.00%), OANDO (+7.66%), ETI (+5.88%), PZ (+1.83%), UACN (+1.70%), NGXGROUP (+1.45%), UBA (+1.06%), ACCESSCORP (+0.63%), ZENITH (+0.57%), and 27 others. As such, the All-Share Index (ASI) rose 0.63%, closing at 99,378.06 points from 98,706.59 points in the previous session. Investors gained N374.30bn, as Market capitalisation increased to N60.24trn, bringing the year-to-date return to 32.90%.
The market breadth closed positively at 0.30x, with 36 gainers against 14 losers and 73 unchanged equities. IKEJAHOTEL topped the gainers’ list, while AUSTINLAZ topped the losers’ list. Notably, AFRIPRUD and GOLDBREW traded above their 52-week high today at N17.25 and N8.64, while AUSTINLAZ traded below its 52-week low of N1.80, closing at N1.62.
At the end of the last weekday of trading on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NGX), a total of 534,235,224 shares in 8,463 deals, corresponding to a market value of NGN 7,431,543,403.82, were traded.
Compared with the previous NGX trading day (Thursday, December 12), today’s data shows 9% improvement in volume, 5% improvement in turnover, and 2% improvement in deals. The current market capitalization of the Nigerian Stock Exchange is NGN 60.3 trillion.
In the aggregate, 128 NGX listed equities participated in trading, ending with 37 gainers and 15 losers. Aradel Holdings led the gainers with 10% share price appreciation closing at NGN 550.00 per share, followed by Ikeja Hotel (+10%), Caverton Offshore Support Group (+10%) and Africa Prudential (+9.87%).
On the losing side, Austin Laz & Company came out last with an end-of-day price depreciation of 10% at NGN 1.62 per share, followed by Associated Bus Company (-8%), Royal Exchange (-7.69%) and Secure Electronic Technology (-5.26%). Japaul Gold and Ventures recorded the highest volume of 71.7 million traded shares, followed by E-Tranzact International (70.7m), Tantalizers (57.3m) and FCMB Group (33m).
Regarding the performance of NGX market indices, the benchmark NGX All-Share Index (ASI) moved up 617.47 (0.63%) points to close at 99,378.06, representing a 1-week gain of 1.19%, a 4-week gain of 1.69%, and an overall year-to-date gain of 32.9%.
Other remarkable indices that performed were the NGX Top 30 Index (+0.09%; -0.09% 1WK; +32.85% YTD), NGX Insurance Index (+1.52%; +5.52% 1WK; +76.87% YTD), NGX Main Board Index (+0.89%; +1.76% 1WK; +38.8% YTD), NGX Banking Index (+0.63%; +0.16% 1WK; +15.72% YTD), NGX Consumer Goods Index (+0.46%; +1.01% 1WK; +43.39% YTD), and NGX Pension Index (+0.25%; -0.07% 1WK; +33.85% YTD).
