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Julius Berger, other stocks spur NGX positive start to new week

Julius Berger gets regulatory warning for insider trading during closed period

Nigeria’s equities market opened the new week on a positive note (+0.15percent) as construction giant Julius Berger Nigeria Plc led other companies that dominated buy-side activities on the Bourse on Monday August 2, 2021.

Julius Berger rallied most on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX), moving from day open low of N22.50 to N24.50, up by N2 or 8.89percent, while on the laggards table, Eterna Plc led others, after its share price decreased from N7.10 to N6.39, losing 71kobo or 10percent.

The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) All-Share Index (ASI) and Market Capitalisation increased from week open lows of 38,547.08 points and N20.083trillion respectively to 38,604.72 points and N20.113trillion on Monday. Investors in equities gained about N30billion.

“For this week, we expect bargain hunting activities to dominate on the back of relative price attractiveness of stocks and release of favourable H1:2021 earnings results”, said Lagos-based research analysts at Afrinvest.

Read also: ‘Insecurity in Nigeria will end only when government becomes transparent’

Taking a signal from last week’s bearish close, Lagos-based Meristem in their August 2 note said they do not expect the bearish sentiment to persist this week “as investors take advantage of the attractive prices of stocks that shed weight last week”.

“We also expect investors to react positively to expected strong earnings performance and dividend declarations this week”, Meristem added.

The stock market’s negative year-to-date (ytd) return decreased to -4.14percent.

Transnational Corporation Plc, C & I Leasing Plc, FCMB Group Plc, Oando Plc and Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc were most traded stocks at the close of Monday’s trading session on the Nigerian Exchange Limited. In 4,609 deals, investors exchanged 244,287,974 units valued at N1.908billion.

Iheanyi Nwachukwu, is a creative content writer with over 18 years journalism experience writing on banking, finance and capital markets. The multiple awards winning journalist is Assistant Editor, BusinessDay. Iheanyi holds BSc Degree in Economics from Imo State University; Master of Science (MSc) Degree in Management from University of Lagos. Iheanyi has attended several work-related trainings including (i) Advanced Writing and Reporting Skills (Pan African University, Lagos); (ii) News Agency Journalism (Indian Institute of Mass Communication {IIMC}, New Delhi, India); and (iii) Capital Markets Development and Regulations (International Law Institute {ILI} of Georgetown University, Washington DC, USA).

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