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Trading activities
in Starcomms’ shares yesterday boosted market volume as the quantity of
shares transacted during the day rose by 26.11 percent as against a
marginal increase of 6.59 percent recorded last trading day. A total of
371.664 million shares were traded compared to 294.696 million at the
previous trading session last Friday.

Investors traded
69.569 million units of Starcomms’ shares worth N50.674 million on
Monday while the company’s share price, listed under the Nigerian Stock
Exchange’s Information & Communication Technology subsector, rose
by 2.74 percent to close at 75 kobo per share. The large traded volume
was followed by Zenith Bank, United Bank for Africa and FinBank.

Olugbenga Emmanuel,
a finance analyst at WealthZone Company, a portfolio management
company, said the investors’ confidence may not have been restored at
the nation’s bourse, “but some institutional investors are currently
buying some stocks at low prices; taking advantage of sellers’
enthusiasm despite the continuous decline in the entire market
performance.”

Decline continues

Meanwhile, the
market capitalisation of equities at the stock exchange depreciated by
0.16 percent at the close of trading session on Monday. The NSE market
capitalisation of the 194 First-Tier equities closed yesterday at
N8.071 trillion after opening the day at N8.084 trillion, reflecting
N13 billion losses.

The NSE All-Share
Index yesterday shed 0.15 percent or 37.96 units to close at 25,262.50
basis points from the 25,300.46 recorded at the beginning of the day’s
trading.

The number of
gainers on Monday closed lower at 33 stocks compared to the 35 stocks
recorded last Friday. UAC Properties topped the gainers chart for the
day with five percent appreciations or 80 kobo to close at N16.81 per
share. On the losers’ side, a total of 21 stocks recorded price decline
compared to the 19 stocks that declined in the previous trading day.
Diamond Bank topped the losers chart with 4.97 percent depreciation or
37 kobo to close at N7.08 per share.

At the close of
trading yesterday, the banking subsector led the most active
subsector’s chart with 195.526 million quantities of shares, valued at
N1.609 billion. Volume in the subsector was largely driven by Zenith
Bank, followed by United Bank for Africa and FinBank.

The Information
& Communication Technology subsector was second in the most active
subsectors’ chart with 69.599 million volumes of shares, valued at over
N50.689 million. Starcomms, the most traded stock for the day, largely
boosted volume in the subsector, followed by Chams Plc.

Trading activities
in the Insurance subsector was third in the chart. Investors in the
sector exchanged 33.653 million volumes of shares, valued at N19.661
million.

Deals in shares of Equity Assurance, NEM Insurance, Universal Insurance Company,

and Goldlink Insurance boosted volume in the subsector.