July 03, (THEWILL) – The Nigerian equities market picked up from where it left off last week, closing higher on gains in MTNN (+1.7% from N13.762 share price), STANBIC (+9.3% against share price of N59), and ACCESSCORP (+9.9% from N16.95). Thus, the All-Share Index advanced by 1.6% to close at 61,949.24 points, pushing the Year-to-Date return to +20.9%, while market capitalisation rose to N33.8 trillion from N33.2 trillion last Friday.
The total volume traded advanced by 20.8% to 1.21 billion units, valued at NGN14.04 billion, and exchanged in 12,128 deals. FCMB was the most traded stock by volume at 173.81 million units, while ACCESSCORP was the most traded stock by value at NGN2.38 billion.
Analysing by sectors, the Banking (+6.8%), Insurance (+1.8%), Oil & Gas (+1.5%), and Consumer Goods (+0.5%) indices recorded gains, while the Industrial Goods index closed flat.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive (4.8x), as 67 tickers gained relative to 14 losers. JAPAULGOLD (+10.0%) and LINKASSURE (+10.0%) recorded the most significant gains of the day, while TRIPPLEG (-9.9%) and CORNERST (-9.1%) topped the losers’ list.
On the currency market, the naira appreciated by 3.7% to NGN741.50/USD at the I&E window as against N769.25/$ on Friday, according to the aggregator, FMDQ, on its website. Turnover also dropped, to $88.69 against $263.45 on Friday, representing a 66.4% decrease.
Sam Diala is a Bloomberg Certified Financial Journalist with over a decade of experience in reporting Business and Economy. He is Business Editor at THEWILL Newspaper, and believes that work, not wishes, creates wealth.
