Trading activities on the floor of Nigerian Stock Exchange on Monday opened in a positive note following gains recorded by some highly capitalised stocks, gaining N94 billion.
Specifically, market capitalisation of listed equities yesterday increased by 0.73 per cent to N12.846 trillion from N12.752 trillion reported on Friday.
The NSE All Share Index also appreciated by 192.86 basis points to 26609.34 from 26416.48 traded the previous day.
Investors exchanged 382.807 million shares worth N7.188 billion in 3312 deals against 222.510 million shares valued at N3.040 billion in 2540 deals.
A review of the transactions during the day showed that Seplat Petroleum Development Company PLC led gainers table, gaining N48.30 kobo to close at N598.00, Nestle Nigeria Plc followed with a gain of N39.90 kobo to close at N1469.90 kobo, Nigerian Breweries added N1.80 kobo to close at N59.75 kobo, Dangote Cement Industry gained N1.50 kobo to close at N141.50 kobo, UPDC Reits increased by N0.40 kobo to close at N4.70 kobo.
On the contrary, Union Bank of Nigeria recorded the highest loss during the day, dropping by N0.65 kobo to close at N6.15 kobo, C& I Leasing trailed with a loss of N0.60 kobo to close at N5.40 kobo, Access Bank Plc down by N0.20 kobo to close at N9.75 kobo, LearnAfrica dropped by N0.12 kobo to close at N1.13 kobo, Trans Express declined by N0.08 kobo to N0.92 kobo.
The trading result further showed that Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp) was the most active stock during the day, trading 138.904 million shares valued at N137.298 million, Guaranty Trust Bank followed with account of 48.362 million shares worth N1.402 billion, Access Bank Plc traded 45.017 million shares cost N437.579 million, United Bank for Africa sold a total of 39.348 million shares valued at N280.534 million, Zenith Bank Plc sold a total of 34.676 million shares valued at N640.801 million.
Capital market operators expected that the year will winds down in a mixed performance amidst profit taking as investors take advantage of low prices invest in companies with strong potential to grow their dividend on the strength of their earnings capacity.
They stated the current undervalued state of the market offers investors opportunities to position for short and medium-to-long-term, that is why investors should target fundamentally sound and dividend-paying stocks for possible capital appreciation as the year winds down, giving way to 2020,
