Nigerian stocks gained big on Wednesday as the benchmark index climbed 1 per cent following investor’s tremendous demand for big-cap stocks across sectors.

The advance mostly derived strength from appreciation in the shares of MTNN, Seplat, UBA, Access, ETI, GTCO and Sterling Bank. MTNN closed at N173 on Wednesday.

Helping sentiment, Sterling Bank announced it has obtained approvals-in-principle from industry watchdog Central Bank of Nigeria, first to transform to a holding company and, second, to start a non-interest banking unity to be known as Alternative Banking Limited.

The lender’s newly granted permission to restructure to a holdco signals the second time this year a bank its sister companies will adopt that model following the transformation of GTB and its subsidiaries to GTCO.

Nigeria’s biggest bank Access is also looking to become a holdco, allowing it to join the ranks of FBN Holdings, Stanbic IBTC Holdings and the FCMB Group, who had earlier towed that path.

Market breadth, a barometer used for measuring investors’ sentiment towards trade, was positive as 20 advancers emerged compared to 11 losers.

The all-share index expanded 416.24 points to close at 42,435.16, while market capitalisation closed higher at N22.14 trillion.

Year to date, the index is down by 5.37 per cent.

TOP FIVE GAINERS

Living Trust led the gainers, appreciating by 9.09 per cent to N0.96. Meyer went up by 7.69 per cent to N0.28. Mansard rose to N2.22, notching up 7.25 per cent in the process. Dangote Sugar added 6.67 per cent to end trade at N16. Honeywell completed the top 5, climbing by 6.51 per cent to N3.60.

TOP FIVE LOSERS

Cutix was the worst performing stock, declining by 9.69 per cent to close at N2.61. Royal Exchange shed 8.06 per cent to close at N0.57. Mutual Benefits fell to N0.24, losing 7.69 per cent. Sovereign Trust slumped to N0.23, recording 4.17 per cent decline. NAHCO closed at N3.50, going down by 2.51 per cent.

TOP FIVE TRADES

Altogether, 649.8 million shares worth N7.2 billion were traded in 3,757 deals.

FBN Holdings was the most active stock with 441.9 million shares worth N5 billion traded in 224 deals. Sterling traded 64.4 million shares priced at N95.9 million in 69 transactions. GTCO had 20.7 million shares valued at N501.4 million traded in 345 deals. UBA traded 14.7 million shares estimated at N116 million in 194 transactions. Access traded 12.3 million shares valued at N110.6 million in 159 deals.

PT