Stocks Gain N29bn, Diamond Bank, UPL, Others Appreciate

• Stocks Gain N29bn, Diamond Bank, UPL, Others Appreciate

The Nigerian equities market, on Tuesday, closed on a positive note, with the Nigerian Stock exchange market capitalisation rising by N29bn.

A total of 305.171 million shares valued at N2.905bn exchanged hands in 4,399 deals.

Investor sentiment further strengthened as market breadth improved, with Diamond Bank Plc, University Press Plc and NEM Insurance Nigeria Plc emerging as the top gainers, rising by 5.2 per cent, 4.8 per cent and 4.6 per cent, accordingly.

The worst performers were International Breweries Plc, Linkage Assurance Plc and Morison Allied Industries Plc, which plummeted by 9.3 per cent, five per cent and five per cent, accordingly.

The market recouped losses of the previous trading session as the All-Share Index rose by 22 basis points to close at 37,013.57 basis points while the year-to-date return expanded to 37.7 per cent.

Tuesday’s positive performance was primarily on account of buying interest in Dangote Cement Plc, which gained 0.9 per cent; ex-Dangote Cement, the equities market would have lost six basis points.

Accordingly, market capitalisation gained N28.6bn to settle at N12.8tn. However, activity level was mixed as volume fell 34.6 per cent to close at 305.2 million units while value traded rose 0.1 per cent to N2.9bn.

Sector performance across board was mixed as two of five indices trended northwards while two closed in the red and one flat.

The industrial goods and banking indices emerged gainers, up by 0.5 per cent apiece, on the back of gains in Dangote Cement, Zenith Bank Plc and Guaranty trust Bank Plc, which rose respectively by 0.9 per cent, 0.4 per cent and 0.7 per cent.