MTNN, Fidelity Bank drive intraday gain in Equities Market

Equities investors trading highs and lows on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) platform are currently taking positions in the local stock market ahead of Christmas celebration. Demand for telecom, oil, and banking stocks drove the market uptrend during midday. Stockbrokers said investors are taking positions on stocks with potential upside, like MTN Nigeria and Oando that recently shed weight. At mid-day trading, the NGX All Share Index trended positive, experiencing a growth of 0.63%, Alpha Morgan Capital Limited said in a note. Stockbrokers said the midday upward movement is a result of appreciation in some mid- to hig-capitalised stocks.
During the intraday, MTNN has gained 8.99% while FIDELITYBK is up by 5.11%. Also, NB has surged by 3.23%, FBNH has moved up by 2.76%, and WEMABANK is up 2.29%. UCAP has seen a price uptick of 2.08%; STERLINGNG is up by 1.82% at noon. Oil stock OANDO has seen positive price movement of 1.57%. Banking names that are making uptrends include UBA (1.29%), ACCESSCORP (0.61%), STANBIC (0.43%), and others. Bullish sentiment persisted on the Exchange trading floor. Sustained buy interests in industrial heavyweight MTNN, alongside UBA and renewed interest in OANDO offset losses in GTCO and TRANSCORP, keeping the market in the green.
As a result, the benchmark index posted a 0.82% gain to settle at 102,186.03 points. The year-to-date (YTD) return rose to 36.66%, while market capitalization gained ₦503.06bn to close at ₦61.94tn. Analysis of market activities showed trade turnover settled higher relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions up by 12.24%. A total of 431.78m shares valued at ₦18.26bn were exchanged in 8,369 deals. UBA (+2.86%) led the volume chart with 51.17m units traded, while DANGCEM  (+0.00%) led the value chart in deals worth ₦11.14bn Market breadth closed positive at a 1.71-to-1 ratio with advancing issues outnumbering the declining ones. MRS (+10.00%) topped thirty-five (35) others on the leader’s table while THOMASWY (-10.00%) led twenty (20) others on the laggard’s log.