Nigeria’s stock market opens March on a positive note

Nigeria’s equities market opened the month of March on a positive note, rising by 0.33 percent or N69billion at the close of trading session on Monday –the first trading day into the new month.

Thanks to UACN which led the advancers after its share price moved from N7.5 to N8, gaining 50kobo or 6.67percent. The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All-Share Index (ASI) and Market Capitalisation increased from day open low of 39,799.89 points and N20.823 trillion respectively to 39,931.63 points and N20.892trillion. Monday’s positive close reduced the negative return seen year-to-date (YtD) to 0.84percent.

Other stocks that aided the positive close include AIICO which increased from N1.15 to N1.21, adding 6kobo or 5.22percent, Veritas Kapital Assurance which increased from 20kobo to 21kobo, adding 1kobo or 5percent.

Also, BUA Cement advanced from N72 to N74.75, up by N2.75 or 3.82percent, while Neimeth moved from N1.83 to N1.88, up by 5kobo or 2.73percent.

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“Although the local bourse closed the day in the green, market sentiment remained tepid, evidenced by the declining turnover rate in recent times coupled with the negative market breadth”, according to Vetiva analysts in their March 1 note.

The analysts noted that except for any major significant upward movement in any large cap stock on Tuesday (as seen in BUA Cement on Monday), they expect the market to return south.

In 4,673 deals, investors exchanged 543,986,690 units valued at N1.888billion. Wema Bank, Zenith Bank, Transcorp, UBA and United Capital were actively traded stocks.