Tag: #GTCO

Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc (GTCO) gained N5.20 per cent or N1.70 per share to cross the N1trillion in market capitalisation yesterday as investors sustained interest in fundamentals stock on the on The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX).

The lender hits N1.01trillion in market cap yesterday when its stock price closed at N34.40 per share from N32.70 per share.

Just in two-day, the stock price of GTCO added 9.4per cent or N2.95 per share from N31.45 per share it opened for trading this week.

However, the stock market of the NGX yesterday sustained its upswing as the overall capitalisation rose by N421 billion following price uptick in Seplat Energy and 50 others.

Accordingly, the NGX All Share Index (ASI) gained by 772.98 basis points or 1.30 per cent to close at 60,108.86 basis points. Also, market capitalisation gained N421 billion to close at N32.730 trillion.

As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive, as 51 stocks gained relative to 13 losers. Afromedia, Courteville Business Solutions, Ikeja Hotel and Omatek Ventures recorded the highest price gain of 10 per cent each to close at 22 kobo, 66 kobo, N3.63 and 33 kobo respectively, per share.

Transcorp Hotel followed with a gain of 9.97 per cent to close at N21.29, while Ellah Lakes appreciated by 9.88 per cent to close at N3.56, per share.

On the other hand, Red Star Express led the losers’ chart by 10 per cent to close at N3.15, per share. C&I Leasing followed with a decline of 9.79 per cent to close at N3.50, while Morison Industries declined by 9.22 per cent to close at N1.97, per share.

Sovereign Trust Insurance depreciated by 7.41 per cent to close at 50 kobo, while May & Baker Nigeria declined by 6.42 per cent to close at N5.10, per share.

The total volume traded increased by 38.18 per cent to 763.696 million units, valued at N12.534 billion, and exchanged in 9,463 deals. Transactions in the shares of Access Holdings topped the activity chart with 111.668 million shares valued at N1.741 billion. GTCO followed with 78.986 million shares worth N2.693 billion, while United Bank of Africa (UBA) traded 72.292 million shares valued at N878.219 million.

Sterling Financial Holdings Company traded 65.612 million shares valued at N195.575 million, while Zenith Bank sold 52.437 million shares worth N1.770 billion.

United Capital Plc stated that “yesterday, the domestic equity market closed on a positive note, with investors leaning more to their risk-on nature in a bid to exploit a recovering and largely profitable market.

“The suppressed yield environment has continued to serve as added incentive for investors to switch more toward listed corporates, in view of the potentially brighter mid-term outlook for the Nigerian economy.”

The Group Chief Executive Officer of Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO), Segun Agbaje, has said the affordability of data will boost financial inclusion and literacy in Nigeria.

Agbaje disclosed this at a media parley in Lagos while reacting to questions on the lingering billing and debt crisis between telecommunication companies and deposit money banks over the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) transactions.

He argued that other economies similar to Nigeria are promoting financial inclusion and literacy by making data available to citizens.

“We have all missed the rising cost of data in Nigeria in comparison to other economies like ours. We are being distracted by USSD. You want financial inclusion, you want to improve literacy, bring down the cost of data.

“USSD is not the answer. The answer is to get the cost of data down in Nigeria. Countries like India don’t use USSD, they use mobile banking because data is affordable. Give us a technology that is data-driven and robust,” he noted.

He also stressed that the banks are not against the use of USSD but are neither willing to pay for unsuccessful transactions nor transfer the cost to the end users.

While dispelling insinuations that FINTECH companies are doing better than banks, Agbaje noted that the ‘japa’ syndrome in the industry can only be curtailed with an improved economy where the attraction of leaving the country is reduced.

He noted that the Nigerian banking industry is not as profitable as being insinuated because of inflation and devaluation.