Investors gain ₦9bn as Stock Market opens Week on Positive note

By Taiye Olayemi

Investors on the Stock Market recorded a combined gain of ₦9 billion on Monday as the equities market opened the new trading week on a modest but positive footing.

Market capitalisation rose by ₦9 billion, or 0.01 per cent, to close at ₦106.162 trillion, up from ₦106.153 trillion at the start of the session, reflecting renewed interest in select stocks across multiple sectors.

The All-Share Index (ASI) also edged higher, gaining 14.24 points, or 0.01 per cent, to settle at 165,384.64, compared with 165,370.40 recorded at the close of trading on Friday.

The marginal market uptick was driven by price appreciation in stocks such as Premier Paint, Universal Insurance, Daar Communications, RT Briscoe and Morison, alongside gains recorded in 25 other equities.

Despite the positive headline performance, market breadth closed negative, with 44 stocks declining against 30 gainers, indicating that losses were more widespread even as gains in select stocks lifted the overall market.

On the losers’ chart, Omatek led with a 10 per cent decline to close at ₦2.70, followed by Union Homes Real Estate Investment Trust, which shed 9.96 per cent to ₦85.40. AXA Mansard dropped 9.94 per cent to ₦14.31, while Deap Capital Management declined 9.90 per cent to ₦8.46 and Cileasing fell 9.80 per cent to ₦6.90 per share.

Conversely, Premier Paint and Universal Insurance topped the gainers’ table with 10 per cent appreciation each, closing at ₦11.00 and ₦1.32 respectively. Daar Communications advanced 9.93 per cent to ₦1.55, RT Briscoe rose 9.92 per cent to ₦8.64, while Morison gained 9.91 per cent to end the session at ₦10.98 per share.

Trading activity showed improved momentum, with investors exchanging 762.8 million shares valued at ₦18.4 billion across 55,374 deals, compared with 687.4 million shares worth ₦14.9 billion traded in 41,553 deals in the previous session.

Tantaliser recorded the highest trading volume for the day, with 88.49 million shares, accounting for 11.60 per cent of total volume traded.

In value terms, Zenith Bank led the market with transactions worth ₦2.87 billion, representing 15.61 per cent of the total value of equities traded.