Investors gain N28bn as market opens September in green

Nigeria’s equities investors gained about N28billion on Thursday September 1, as the market opened the new month in green.

Analysts had ahead of market close expected cautious trading to persist in the new month in the absence of any major positive catalyst to drive the market.

“Looking ahead to the rest of the week, we expect the local bourse to remain flat without any fundamental drivers coupled with the elevated interest environment,” said research analysts at Lagos-based United Capital.

The Nigeria stock market’s All-Share Index (ASI) and capitalisation increased further on Thursday by 0.11percent or N28billion from preceding trading day’s 49,836.51 points and N26.880trillion respectively to 49,889.8 points and N26.908trillion.

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FCMB Group topped gainers league after its share price moved up from N3.05 to N3.20, up by 15kobo or 4.92 percent; followed by Fidelity Bank which increased from N3.19 to N3.33, up by 14kobo or 4.39percent and Pharma-Deko which rose from N1.75 to N1.88, adding 13kobo or 7.43percent

The stock market’s year-to-date (YtD) positive return moved higher to +16.79percent

Sterling Bank, GTCO, Fidelity Bank, Mutual Benefits and Zenith Bank were top-5 traded stocks on Thursday at the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX). In 3,575 deals, investors exchanged 229,120,612 shares valued at N1.749billion.