Kelechukwu Mgboji 
A strong rebound in the shares of tel – co heavy weight, MTN Nigeria Plc, lifted value and performance of Nigeria’s equities market with market valuation rising by N343 billion on Tuesday, the most significant gain recorded in about two weeks.
Significant gain in Oando Plc further boosted the overall gain, lifting the All Share Index by 596.95 basis points or 0.62 per cent to 96,802.80 points while market capitalisation closed higher at N55.626trillion.
While MTNN gained +7.5 per cent to close at N192.50 per share, up from N179.00 per share, Oando rose by +6.7 per cent, firming up at N95.50 per share in a trading session in which 30 stocks recorded gains as against 17 losers on the table.
Gains in the shares of GTCO (+0.22%), Flour Mills (+1.12%) Nigerian Breweries (+1.85), Transcorp (+2.27%), Lafarge Africa (+0.14%) and FBN Holdings (+0.21%) further helped to lift the market significantly from previous day’s decline.
Thus, the Month-toDate and Year-to-Date returns settled higher at +0.2 percent and +29.5 per cent, respectively. However, the total volume of trades declined by 46.8 per cent to 406.19 million units, valued at N13.31billion, and exchanged in 12,234 deals.
Oando was the most traded stock by volume and value at 58.49million units and N5.52 billion, respectively. An analysis of the sectors showed that the Banking (-0.5%), Insurance (-0.4%), and Consumer Goods (-0.2%) indices settled lower, while the Industrial Goods and Oil & Gas indices closed flat.
A total of 30 stocks gained led by R.T Briscoe (+9.9%) and Calverton (+9.8%) while 17 stocks lost led by Learn Africa with -9.7 per cent loss followed by JAPAUL Gold with -6.7 percent decline.
