The stock market traded in positive territory yesterday after a series of bearish trades in recent weeks which has seen the market capitalisation fall below its N15 trillion benchmark.
While the all-share index grew by 0.36 from 27,772.19 to 27,871.9 index points, the equity market capitalisation increased from N14.464 trillion to N14.516trillion, a gain of N52 billion.
The marginal growth in the total equity market capitalisation was influenced by the gain recorded in some large and medium capitalised stocks like Zenith Bank, which gained 0.76%, First Bank Holdings, Lafarge Africa, MTN Nigeria and Cadbury Nigeria.
Top gainers
UACN was the best performing stock in yesterday’s trading session after gaining 9.41% to close at N9.3 followed by Japaul Oil, which gained 8.33% to close at N0.26 and Cadbury Nigeria which recorded 4.44% gain to close at N9.4. MTN Nigeria gained 4.35% to close at N120 while AIICO Insurance rounded off the list with 3.66% gain to close at N0.85.
Top losers
On the flip side, Skyway Aviation Handling was the worst performing with 9.89% decline to close at N3.37 followed by Caverton Offshore, which dipped 9.86% to close at N2.65. Mrs Oil lost 9.8% to close at N13.8. Sovereign Trust Insurance lost 9.09% to close at N0.2 while Linkage Assurance rounded off the decliners list with 8.93% loss to close at N0.51.
[READ MORE: Investors lose N153.6 billion on Monday as ASI dip 1.05%)
Top trades by volume
UBA stocks were most actively traded on the floor of the stock market today, with recorded trades in 49.47 million units of shares valued at N381.67 million across 316 deals. GT bank followed having been involved in 356 deals, trading 41.43 million units of shares at N1.20 billion.
Zenith Bank traded 30.24 million units of shares at N604.76 million in 75 deals, Japaul Oil recorded trades in 29.62 million units of shares at N7.69 million in deals while Ecobank Transnational capped the list with trades in 27.74 million units of shares at N197.81 million in 33 deals.
