Turnover in the Fixed Income and Currency (FIC) markets stood at ₦25.66 trillion at the end of transactions last month, March 31, 2020.
According to FMDQ, the figure represents 9.33 per cent increase when compared to ₦23.47 trillion turnover achieved in February 2020.
Also, total FX market turnover in March 2020 stood at $28.92 billion (₦10.73 trillion), representing 6.64 per cent ($1.80 billion) increase from $27.12 billion turnover recorded in February 2020.
Meanwhile the Nigerian equities market sustained rising profile at the end of yesterday’s transactions, as market capitalisation increases by N344 billion.
Specifically, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 659.99 absolute points, representing a growth of 3.02 per cent to close at 22,539.94 points.
Similarly, the overall market capitalisation size gained N344 billion to close at N11.747 trillion.The upturn was impacted by gains recorded in large and medium capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Dangote Cement, Nigerian Breweries, Guaranty Trust Bank, Zenith Bank and Dangote Sugar Refinery.
Analysts at Afrinvest Limited said bargain hunting would continue to buoy positive performance in the near term. The Chief Operating Officer of InvestData Consulting Limited, Ambrose Omordion noted that the current under-valued state of the market offers investors opportunities to position for the short, medium and long-term.
“Investors should target fundamentally sound, and dividend-paying stocks for possible capital appreciation.” Market breadth remained positive, with 28 gainers versus 11 losers. Champion Breweries, Dangote Cement and Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals recorded the highest price gain of 10 per cent each, to close at 88 kobo, N133.10 and 55 kobo respectively, per share.
Oando followed with a gain 9.85 per cent to close at N2.90, while Nigerian Breweries appreciated by 9.84 per cent to close at N26.80, per share.
Zenith Bank went up by 9.66 per cent to close at N15.90, while Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp) appreciated by 8.96 per cent to close at 73 kobo, per share.
On the other hand, Arbico Plc led the losers’ chart by 9.82 per cent, to close at N2.57, per share. Wema Bank followed with a decline of 9.68 per cent to close at 56 kobo.
Cutix went down by 9.09 to close at N1.20, per share. Aiico Insurance lost 4.76 per cent to close at 80 kobo, while Union Bank of Nigeria (UBN) shed 4.62 per cent to close at N6.20, per share.
However, the total volume traded declined by 41.48 per cent to 326.444 million shares, worth N3.339 billion, and traded in 5,166 deals.
Transactions in the shares of FBN Holdings topped the activity chart with 74.758 million shares valued at N354.24 million.
Zenith Bank followed with 72.11 million shares worth N1.097 billion, while Guaranty Trust Bank traded 36.77 million shares valued at N793.96 million.
United Bank for Africa (UBA) traded 22.917 million shares valued at N145.82 million, while FCMB Group transacted 19.176 million shares worth N32.253 million.
