Domestic equities market sustains growth trend, gains N842bn

The local equity market on Thursday sustained a growth trajectory, gaining N842 billion as bulls continued dominating trading activities during the day.

Market capitalization of listed equities appreciated by 1.25 per cent to N68.116 trillion from N67.274 trillion it closed on Wednesday.

The NGX All Share Index also increased by 1349.52 basis points to 109172.04 points from 107822.52 points recorded the previous day.

The trading result showed that gains recorded in the shares of Dangote Cement , Ecobank Transnational incorporated, PZ Cusson, VFG group and other 31 firms lifted market activities.

As a result year to date return went up to 6.07 per cent as 35 companies closed in green against 25 firms that took negative directions.

A review of the investment during the day showed that Regal Insurance, SUNU Assurance and Dangote Cement led gainers table with 10 per cent each to close at N0.77, N6.27 and N474.10 per share respectively.

HMCall followed with a gain of 9.98 per cent to close at N5.51 per unit, PZ Cusson added 9.96 per cent to close at N25.95 per unit.

On the contrary, Gold Breweries topped losers chart, dropping by 9.91 to close at N7.09 per unit, Linkage Assurance trailed with a loss of 6.76 per cent to close at N1.38 per share, Eterna Plc fell by 6.57 per cent to close at N45.50 per unit, CWG dipped by 6.36 per cent to close at N8.10 per share, Chams Plc down by 3.75 per cent to close at N2.31 per unit.

Volume of trades declined by 35.061 million, representing 7.59 per cent as investors traded 427.083 million shares valued at N9.197 billion in 16342 deals against 462.144 million shares cost N10.233 billion in 15629 deals.

Transactions in the shares of Universal insurance led market activities with 23.230 million shares valued at N16.006 million, Wema Bank followed with 22.117 million shares worth N260.552 million,  Sterling Bank exchanged 21.943 million shares valued at N131.812 million, AIICO Insurance traded 19.854 million shares worth N34.791 million while Fidelity Bank exchanged 18.264 million shares valued at N359.581 million