NGX records first gain in March

After three days of negatives closes, Nigeria’s equities market on Thursday rose by 0.32 percent.

The market was able to record its first gain this month as investors bought mostly the shares of Transcorp, Africa Prudential, SCOA and other major advancers.

Many investors moved into Custom Street to hunt for attractive stocks that were priced low following consecutive trading sessions of negatives since this week.

Transcorp rallied most, from N47.10 to N51.80 adding N4.70 or 9.98 percent. It was followed by SCOA which rose from N3.44 to N3.78, up by 34kobo or 9.88 percent. Also, Africa Prudential increased from N27.85 to N30.60, adding N2.75 or 9.87 percent.

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Tantalizer increased from preceding trading day’s low or N2.16 to N2.37, adding 21 kobo or 9.72 percent, while Caverton rose from N2.52 to N2.76, up by 24 kobo or 9.52 percent.

At the close of trading, the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) All-Share Index (ASI) and equities market capitalisation increased from preceding trading day’s lows of 106,436.48 points and N66.653 trillion respectively to 106,780.72 points and N66.868 trillion.

The market’s year-to-date (YtD) return stood higher at 3.74 percent at the close of trading depsite that stock market has decreased this month by 0.97 percent.

Stocks like GTCO, Access Holdings, Zenith Bank Fidelity Bank and United Bank for Africa were actively traded stocks.
In 11,447 deals, investors exchanged 375,725,297 shares worth N10.185billion.