Nigerian Stock Exchange Gains N36bn as Economy Reopens

• Nigerian Stock Exchange Gains N36bn as Businesses Reopens

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) sustained last week’s bullish trend on Monday as the economy reopened for business.

President Muhammadu Buhari had eased restrictions on movement in the three frontline states to ease the burden of the lockdown on people.

The NSE responded on Monday positively as the market capitalisation of listed equities rose by N36 billion from N11.997 trillion it closed on Friday to N12.033 trillion on Monday.

While the NSE All-Share Index gained 68.85 basis points or 0.30 percent from 23,021.01bps achieved on Friday to 23,089.86.

A total of 249.85 million shares were exchanged in 6,538 transactions by investors during the trading hours of Monday.

The premium subsector led in terms of volume traded with 108.34 million shares traded in 2,329 deals. The sector was boosted by the surge in activities of FBNH Plc and UBA Plc stocks.

Also, the banking subsector was led by the renewed interest in the shares of GTBank Plc and Sterling Bank Plc.

Further analysis of the trading report, revealed that Prestige Assurance Plc led gainers with 10 percent profit to close at 55 kobo per share. While ARDOVA Plc trailed with 9.96 percent to close at N12.70 percent share and Wapic Insurance added a gain of 7.60 percent to settle at 28 kobo per share.

Experts attributed the renewed interest to rush for undervalued stocks with strong fundamentals. Certain stocks, like the GTBank, are undervalued due to a series of external factors impacting the company’s performance.

On the other hand, NEM Insurance Plc and Neimeth Pharmaceuticals Nigeria Plc led the losers’ table with a decline of ten per cent each to settle at N1.98 and 54 kobo per share, respectively.

Chams Plc trailed them with a decline of 8.70 per cent to close at 21 kobo per share. Shares of Access Bank Plc declined by 7.58 per cent to settled at N6.10 per share.