Nigerian stocks lengthened their uptrend on Tuesday, helped in part by investors increasing demand for telco stocks as well as for conglomerates and financial services shares, a broad-based progress culminating in a N252.4 billion gain.

MTNN and Airtel continued to command investors’ interest and were joined United Capital and UACN in leading the advance.

Market breadth, which measures investor sentiment, closed on a positive note, with 24 losers reported against 16 gainers.

“This week, we expect the NGX to trade sideways in the absence of bullish triggers,” said brokerage firm United Capital in a note seen by Premium Times.

The all-share index expanded by 483.68 points to 43,730.55, while market capitalisation closed higher at N22.8 trillion.

Year to date, the index is up by 8.59 per cent.

TOP FIVE GAINERS

FTN Cocoa led gainers, appreciating by 10 per cent to close at N0.44. ABC Transport went up by 10 per cent to N0.33. Ardova rose to N14.55, notching up 7.38 per cent in the process. UACN added 7.14 per cent to end trade at N11.25. Livestock climbed by 2.19 per cent to N6.83.

TOP FIVE LOSERS

Berger Paints topped the losers’ chart, declining by 9.52 per cent to close at N8.55. Caverton shed 9.09 per cent to close at N1.70. UPL fell to N2.13, losing 7.39 per cent. Regal Insurance slumped to N0.41, recording 6.82 per cent depreciation. Conoil closed at N21.70, going down by 5.65 per cent.

TOP FIVE TRADES

Altogether, 280.7 million shares estimated at N3.5 billion were traded in 4,342 deals.

Sterling Bank was the most active stock with 83.3 million units of its shares worth N125.1 million traded in 53 deals. UACN traded 34.2 million shares priced at N360.5 million exchanged hands in 135 transactions. Zenith had 17.5 million shares valued at N427.2 million traded in 372 deals. UCAP traded 17.5 million shares estimated at N169.8 million in 182 transactions. Access Bank traded 15.3 million shares valued at N144.4 million in 185 deals.

PT