The Nigerian stock market commenced the trading week, yesterday on a positive note with a gain of 0.80 per cent amid sustained bargain hunting activity. The All – Share- Index (ASI) was up by 251.95 absolute points, representing an increase of 0.80 per cent to close at 31,781.87 points. Similarly, the market capitalisation increased by N94 billion, closing at N11.852 trillion. The upturn was impacted by gains recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Beta Glass, Seplat Petroleum Development Company, Unilever Nigeria, Cadbury Nigeria and Stanbic IBTC Holdings. Analysts at Afrinvest Limited said that “although the domestic bourse posted a positive performance, we believe this may be short-lived as yesterday’s slowdown in gains indicates profit-taking activities may begin in subsequent sessions.” While, analysts at United Capital Plc noted that “as we approach the final five days to the long-awaited Nigerian presidential election on the February 16, we expect investors to trade sentiments around election outcomes.” Market breadth was positive with 41 gainers and 10 losers. Cadbury Nigeria, Lasaco Assurance and Oando recorded the highest price gain of 10 per cent, each to close at N11, 33 kobo and N5.50, respectively, per share. Transcorp followed with a gain of 9.77 per cent to close at N1.46, while McNichols rose 9.76 per cent to close at 45 kobo, per share. On the other hand, CI Leasing led the losers’ chart by 9.96 per cent, to close at N8.14, per share. Med-View Airline followed with a decline of 8.11 per cent to close at N1.70, while Total Nigeria lost 7.20 per cent to close at N205, per share. Union Diagnostic & Clinical Services shed 6.90 per cent to close at 27 kobo, while Jaiz Bank depreciated by 5.66 per cent, to close at 50 kobo, per share. However, total volume of trades decreased by 551.59 per cent to 551.59 million units, valued at N5.65 billion and exchanged in 5,229 deals.Transactions in the shares of Access Bank topped the activity chart with 101.62 million shares valued at N700.19 million. United Bank for Africa followed with 69.91 million shares worth N547.13 million, while Diamond Bank traded 52.61 million shares valued at N125.72 million. Zenith Bank traded 46.51 million shares valued at N1.15 billion, while Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp) transacted 45.01 million shares worth N64.69 million.
