The Nigerian stock market (NGX) witnessed a positive start on Monday, with an increase of N17 billion, bringing the market capitalisation to N56.945 trillion.

NGX Stock Market Opens with a 0.03% Increase

This represents a 0.03 per cent rise compared to N56.928 trillion recorded on Friday.

The All-Share Index, which started at 100,539.40, also rose by 0.03 per cent or 29 points to close at 100,568.60.

As a result, the Year-To-Date (YTD) return increased to 34.50 per cent.

The market’s performance was mainly driven by gains in Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO), Zenith Bank, United Bank For Africa (UBA), Fidelity Bank, and Dangote Sugar, among other advancing equities.

In addition, market breadth ended positively with 23 gainers and 15 losers.

Tantalizers topped the list of gainers with an 8.89 per cent increase to close at 49k, followed by Livestock Feed Plc with an 8.18 per cent increase to close at N2.38 per share.

Neimeth rose by 8.05 per cent to close at N1.88, McNichols gained 7.92 per cent to close at N1.09, and Julius Berger advanced by 5.71 per cent to close at N92.50 per share.

On the flip side, Caverton led the losers with a 9.68 per cent decrease to close at N1.40, while Royal Exchange followed with a 6.94 per cent drop to close at 67k per share.

Veritas Kapital declined by 4.72 per cent to close at N1.01, International Breweries went down by 4.42 per cent to close at N3.68, and Honeywell Flour dropped by 4.23 per cent to close at N3.17 per share.

Analysis of market activities indicated that trade turnover decreased compared to the previous session, with the value of transactions down by 59.44 per cent.

A total of 335.70 million shares valued at N3.72 billion were exchanged in 8,760 deals, compared to 603.88 million shares valued at N9.16 billion exchanged in 9,988 deals recorded on Friday.

Ellahlakes led the activity chart in volume with 110.68 million shares worth N332.02 million, Universal Insurance followed by 21.89 million shares valued at N7.48 million.

United Capital traded 20.07 million shares worth N778.61 million to lead the chart in value, Veritas Kapital sold 19.45 million shares worth N20.19 million.

First City Monument Bank (FCMB) transacted 14.73 million shares worth N112.20 million.

Meanwhile, for the week, analysts at Cowry Asset Management Ltd., had predicted that in anticipation of more earnings releases and attractive dividend declarations by corporates was expected to drive positive sentiment across counters.

They, however, noted that the outcome of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting, along with other economic news, could stir mixed sentiments.

“Market players will be closely analysing these developments to understand their potential impact on investments,” the analysts said. (NAN)