Unity Bank, Oil firms Lead As Equity Market Cap Hits N50tn

Eterna Plc, Conoil Plc, Nem Insurance and John Holt Plc led the gainers chart going into the end of the week, appreciating by 10 percent as the market capitalisation of the Nigerian Exchange hit N50.289tn.

This is a new record for the local bourse, which has been setting and breaking milestones daily as the bullish rally continues.

The All-Share Index, which crossed the historic 90,000 points on Wednesday, appreciated by 2.04 percent to close at 91,896.97 basis points.

The year-to-date gain of the index has also risen to 22.90 percent.

Equity investors gained N1.01tn at the close of Thursday’s trading session.

Investors’ appetite for the stocks of Transcorp, Universal Insurance Plc, VeritasKap, Jaiz Bank, and Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc was obvious, as about 469,890,749 units of their shares valued at about N6.191bn were traded on the exchange.

The value and number of deals on the exchange increased by 17.78 percent and 1.91 percent to N19.293 billion and 17,804 deals, respectively, compared to the previous day’s trading figures.

However, the volume of traded units dipped by 12.16 percent to N1.140 billion.

For the first time in days, the losers outnumbered the gainers, reflecting negative market sentiment. At the close of trading, there were 42 declining stocks compared to 34 gainers.

On the losers’ chart were Ikeja Hotel (9.79 percent), Royal Exchange (9.78 percent), Mutual Benefits (9.57 percent), Linkage Assurance (9.40 percent), and JapualGold (9.33 percent).

On the sectoral front, mixed sentiment prevailed, with the banking and insurance indexes shedding 1.89 percent and 2.11 percent, respectively, due to sell-offs in entities such as Jaiz Bank, UBA, Fidelity, Royal Exchange, Mutual Benefits, and Linkage Assurance.

Conversely, the consumer goods, oil & gas, and industrial goods indexes emerged as advancing sectors, gaining 0.87 percent, 2.69 percent, and 7.83 percent, respectively.

The positive movement was attributed to gains in Conoil, Eterna, PZ Cussons, May & Baker, BUA Cement and Dangote Cement.