The Nigerian equities market opened the week on a positive note, with investors recording a gain of N443 billion amid renewed buying interest across major stocks.

Market capitalization rose by 0.34 percent, increasing from N131.165 trillion at the start of trading to N131.608 trillion at the close of the session. Similarly, the All-Share Index advanced by 688.43 points, or 0.34 percent, to settle at 204,458.86 from 203,770.43 recorded previously.

Market breadth closed in positive territory, with 32 gainers outweighing 24 losers, while the year-to-date return improved to 31.39 per cent.

On the gainers’ chart, NGX Group led with a 10 percent increase to close at N153.45 per share.

Trans-Nationwide Express followed with a 9.81 per cent gain to N4.14, while MC Nichols rose by 9.74 per cent to N7.10. VFD Group and CHAMS also recorded gains of 9.71 percent and 8.96 percent, respectively.
Conversely, Berger Paints topped the losers’ table with a 9.95 percent decline to N68.35 per share.

Academy Press fell by 9.71 per cent to N7.90, while Caverton Offshore Support Group dropped by 5.98 per cent to N5.50. Honeywell Flour and CAP also recorded losses of 4.92 percent and 3.81 percent, respectively.
Despite the bullish performance, trading activity declined as total volume traded dropped by 14.33 percent to 470.01 million shares valued at N32.45 billion, executed in 60,793 deals.

Access Corporation led the volume chart with 54.91 million shares, accounting for 11.68 percent of total traded volume. Meanwhile, Aradel Holdings dominated the value chart with transactions worth N7.05 billion, representing 21.74 percent of the total value traded.