'MTN Nigeria drove at 6.1%' Positive sentiments persist at NGX as equities investors gain over $929mln

Bullish sentiments persisted in the Nigerian equities market, on Thursday, as interest in top telecommunication player, MTN Nigeria drove the benchmark index higher having appreciated in value by 6.1 per cent.

Accordingly, the All-Share Index (ASI) of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) rose by 1.4 per cent to 50,835.95 basis points.

Consequently, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns increased to +2.4 per cent and +19.0 per cent, respectively.

Equities investors, therefore, added N382.5 billion to their investment as the market capitalisation settled at N27.41 trillion at the end of trading activities on Thursday.

As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive as 30 tickers gained relative to 22 losers. On the performance chart, Guinness Nigeria and Nigerian Breweries topped the gainers’ list having appreciated in value by 10.0 per cent each, while Transcorp Hotel and Multiverse recorded the most significant losses of the day after their share value dipped by 9.1 per cent and 8.7 per cent respectively.

Given the northward movement in the benchmark index, performance across sub-indices tracked was largely positive except for the NGX Banking index and the NGX Oil/Gas which fell by 0.08 per cent and 0.51 per cent respectively. The NGX Insurance Index, NGX Consumer Goods index and the NGX Industrial increased by 0.87 per cent, 2.36 per cent and 0.12 per cent respectively.

Analysis of market activities indicated that trade turnover settled higher relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions advancing by 38.68 per cent. A total of 462.60 million shares valued at N8.31 billion were exchanged in 6,801 deals.

FCMB Group led the volume chart with 263.65 million units traded, while Nestle Nigeria led the value chart in deals worth N1.84 billion.

If you want to keep your job and excel in your career, you need to do as I say,” Janet Abegunde’s boss said to her one fateful day. Miss Abegunde, a 24-year-old accountant who had just gotten her first job in one of the new generation banks, said she fell into depression after her boss sexually harassed her.Positive sentiments persist at NGX as equities investors gain N382.5bn