Transactions on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) sustained a rising profile yesterday, as more blue-chip stocks, especially UACN, and Linkage Assurance recorded price appreciation, causing investors wealth to increase further by N27 billion.
Yesterday, the All Share Index (ASI) increased by 51.02 absolute points or 0.20 per cent to close at 25,511.02 points. Similarly, investors gained N27 billion as market capitalisation rose to N13.309 trillion.
The upturn was impacted by gains recorded in medium and large value stocks, including MTN Nigeria Communications (MTNN), Vitafoam Nigerian, UAC of Nigeria (UACN), Zenith Bank, and FCMB Group.
They noted that the current under-valued state of the market offers investors opportunities to position for the short, medium and long-term, urging investors to target fundamentally-sound, and dividend-paying stocks for possible capital appreciation for the rest of the year.
Market sentiment, as measured by market breadth, closed positive as 19 stocks gained, relative to six losers. UACN Property Development Company recorded the highest price gain of 8.33 per cent to close at 91 kobo per share.
Wapic Insurance rose 6.06 per cent to close at 35 kobo, and Vitafoam Nigeria garnered 5.09 per cent to close at N5.78, per share.
On the other hand, Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals led the losers’ chart by 6.50 percent to close at N1.87 per share.
Aiico Insurance followed with 5.26 per cent to close at 90 kobo, and Sterling Bank lost 4.80 percent to close at N1.19, per share.
Lasaco Assurance shed 3.85 percent to close at 25 kobo, while Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp) slipped 1.69 percent to close at 58 kobo, per share.
The total volume traded also increased by 28.18 percent to 232.416 million shares worth N1.315 billion, traded in 3,377 deals.
Transactions in the shares of Transcorp topped the activity chart with 70.616 million shares valued at N40.062 million.Zenith Bank followed with 25.491 million shares worth N435.192 million, and Lasaco Assurance traded 17.103 million shares at N4.464 million.
Access Bank traded 14.784 million shares valued at N94.680 million, while United Bank for Africa (UBA) transacted 13.203 million shares worth N85.952 million.
