Nigerian equity market makes 0.10% gain in first trading session in new year

The Nigeria equity market made a marginal 0.10 per cent gain in the first trading session of the new year, catalyzed by bargain hunting on medium and large capitalized stocks by investors.

The All-Share Index (ASI) was higher by 25.72 absolute points, a 0.10 per cent growth to close at 26,867.79 points.

Also, Market Capitalization added N12.42 billion, representing 0.10 per cent increase to close at N12.97 trillion.

Royal Exchange led 20 other gainers, having added 10 per cent, while Seplat was the highest loser in the first trading day, as it shed -9.99 per cent to top 12 other decliners.

Investors traded lesser volume of equities by 74.93 per cent from 1053.570 million to 264.104 million, and worth of the total stocks traded exchanged was lower by 4.82 per cent from ₦5.496 billion to ₦5.231 billion in 3,178 deals.

The Financial Services sector was the busiest exchanging 218.639 million shares valued ₦2.338 billion.

Meanwhile, the bourse posted a -14.52 per cent loss in the just concluded year, as investors chose to in government securities instead of equities.