Airtel Surpasses MTN On NGX, Market Cap Hits N4.34trn
The market capitalisation of Airtel Africa Plc on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) has hit N4.34 trillion,
surpassing its rival, MTN Nigeria Communication Plc in terms of value.
Airtel which has played second fiddle to MTN in terms of market capitalisation on the NGX finally surpassed the yellow brand on Wednesday, gaining 10 per cent to close the market as the biggest gainers on the Exchange.
The company opened trading on the NGX with a market capitalisation of N3. 94 trillion, appreciating by N394.605 billion, reordering 10 per cent to close at N4.34 trillion.
Also, the shares of Airtel surged to N1155.50 per share, up from N1050.50 per share. Its share value rose by N105 or 10 per cent
The current value of N1155.50 per share is the highest value Airtel shares have traded in the last 52 weeks on the Nigerian bourse.
Further checks reveal that Airtel sold a total of 170,148 units of shares valued at N196.572 million, with an outstanding share of 3,758,151,504.
With its current N4.34 trillion market valuation, Airtel is now the second biggest company in terms of market capitalisation on the NGX, it moved ahead of MTN Nigeria to take the second spot but remained below Dangote Cement Plc, the market leader.
MTN is currently trading at N190 per share, to stand in third place, while its market capitalization is at N3.86 trillion.
Dangote Cement Plc, the biggest firm on the NGX currently stands at N4,600 trillion, trading at N270 per share, while its biggest competitor, BUA Cement Plc is in fourth place with N2.417 trillion market capitalisation and N71.4 per share.
In the main, Nigeria’s stock market on Wednesday recorded an increase of 1.73 per cent or N417billion to push the market’s return year-to-date (YtD) higher to +6.35per cent. Also, the value of listed stocks on the Nigerian Exchange Limited rose from Tuesday’s low of N24.059trillion to N24.476trillion.
Airtel Africa Plc, Seplat Energy Plc and Union Bank Nigeria Plc contributed to strengthening the market’s northwards movement.
While looking ahead to the rest of the week, research analysts at Lagos-based United Capital Plc explained that they expect the recent rebound momentum to slow “as we approach a crucial bond auction which we expect to close at higher yields, possibly triggering negative investors’ reaction to the equities market later in the week.”
Airtel Africa Plc rallied most after its share price moved from N1,050.50 to N1,155.50, up by N105 or 10 per cent, followed by Seplat Energy Plc which rose from the preceding day’s low of N690 to N720.10, up by N30.10 or 4.36per cent, while Union Bank Nigeria Plc increased from N5.60 to N5.85, up by 25kobo or 4.46per cent.
GTCO, Dangote Cement, FBN Holdings, Fidelity Bank and FCMB were the most traded stocks on Wednesday at the Nigerian Exchange.
In 4,218 deals, investors exchanged 252,938,074 units valued at N8.925billion.
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