For the first in several weeks, equity transactions on the trading floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) reopened in an upbeat yesterday, with investors repositioning in fundamentally sound stocks, causing the All-share index to appreciate by 0.4 per cent.

Yesterday, the All -share index (ASI) gained 108.69 absolute points to represent an increase of 0.4 per cent, to close at 30,745.05 points. Similarly, market capitalisation increased by N41 billion, to close at N11.465 trillion.

The upturn was impacted by gains recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Nigerian Breweries, Stanbic IBTC Holdings, Red Star Express, Custodian Investment and Dangote Flour.

On trading performance this week, analysts at United Capital Plc expected investors’ sentiment around events in the political space to continue to guide market performance as the general elections draw nearer.

Also, analysts at Afrinvest Limited said: “We expect to see bargain hunting till mid-week as investors’ position in previous decliners.”

However, the market breadth closed negative, recorded 17 gainers against 20 losers.

Ikeja Hotel and Red Star Express recorded the highest price gain of 10 per cent, each to close at N1.65 and N5.50, respectively, while McNichols followed with a gain of 8.33 per cent, to close at 39 kobo, per share.

Cutix appreciated by 5.56 per cent to close at N1.90, while Nigerian Breweries up by 5.27 per cent to close at N77.90, per share.

On the other hand, Champion Breweries led the losers’ chart by 10 per cent, to close at N1.62, while, Academy Press and Unity Bank followed with a decline of 8.89 per cent, each to close at 41 kobo and 82 kobo, respectively, per share.

Forte Oil shed 8.47 per cent to close at N27, while Royal Exchange depreciated by 6.67 per cent, to close at 28 kobo, per share.
Total volume of trades fell by 32.21 per cent to 183.67 million units, valued at N1.04 billion and exchanged in 2,909 deals.

Transactions in the shares of Fidelity Bank topped the activity chart with 36.62 million shares valued at N82.4 million. Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp) followed with 34.27 million shares worth N43.68 million, while Diamond Bank traded 29.47 million shares valued at N68.07 million.

Zenith Bank traded 10.91 million shares valued at N249.79 million, while United Bank for Africa (UBA) transacted 6.97 million shares worth N50.07 million.