Airtel, Ardova Drive Bull Run With N390b Gains

The bulls sustained dominance on the equity sector of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) yesterday, as virtually all the bluechips, especially Airtel Africa and Ardova recorded price appreciation, increasing market capitalisation further by N390 billion.
The All-Share Index (ASI ) gained 746.47 absolute points, representing a growth of 2.10 per cent to close at 36,239.62 points. Similarly, market capitalisation appreciated by N390 billion to close at N18.941 trillion.
The day’s uptrend was driven by price appreciation in medium and large capitalised stocks among which are: Airtel Africa, Dangote Cement, Okomu Oil, Unilever Nigeria and Ardova Plc.
Analysts at Afrinvest Limited said: “We expect the equities market to close on a positive note for the week.”
Market sentiment, as measured by market breadth, was positive, as 30 stocks gained relative to 17 losers. Airtel Africa recorded the highest price gain of 10 per cent to close at N774.40 kobo. Ardova followed with a gain 9.96 per cent to close at N13.25, while FTN Cocoa Processors apreciated by 9.62 per cent to close at 57 kobo.
Unilever Nigeria by 9.54 per cent to close at N14.35, while AXA Mansard Insurance rose by 9.09 per cent to close at 84 kobo. On the other hand, Omatek Ventures and Wapic Insurance led the losers’ chart by 9.09 per cent each, to close at 20 kobo and 40 kobo while Champion Breweries followed with a decline of 8.99 per cent to close at 81 kobo.
University Press lost 7.25 per cent to close at N1.28, while Union Diagnostic & Clinical Services shed 6.90 per cent to close at 27 kobo.
Meanwhile, the total volume traded declined by 47.1 per cent to 343.636 million shares, worth N4.350 billion, and traded in 3,895 deals.
Transactions in the shares of FBN Holdings (FBNH) topped the activity chart with 99.387 million shares valued at N700.449 million. Skyway Aviation Handling Company followed with 24 million shares worth N64.020 million while United Bank for Africa (UBA) traded 22.312 million shares valued at N187.375 million.Access Bank traded 20.871 million shares valued at N174.162 million, while Zenith Bank transacted 15.766 million shares worth N388.714 million.