By Peter OBIORA InvestAdvocate

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-The bulls on Wednesday returned to the Nigerian equities market as benchmark index gained 0.20 percent at the end of the trading session compared to 0.30 percent decline recorded previously.

With the 0.20 percent gain, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) all-share index (ASI) closed at 40,729.49 basis points (BPs) as Week-to-Date (W-t-D) profile also returned to positive territory at 0.14 percent.

However, Year-to-Date (Y-t-D) returns currently stand at a negative 1.45 percent.

Market capitalisation climbed up by N26.86 billion to close at N13.45 trillion; owed in part to the increased demand for stocks in the industrial sector, a Cordros Capital report said.

Cordros reported that three (3) out of the five (5) NSE sectoral indices reported growth. ‘’The industrial index added 1.39 percent to top the gainers chart, the insurance index followed with a 0.22 percent gain, while the consumer goods index gained 0.16 percent. On the other hand the oil/gas index lost the most with a 1.20 percent decline, while the banking index dropped 0.52 percent,’’ the report said.

In terms of market breadth, at the end of transactions on the Nigerian bourse, 29 gainers and 30 losers were recorded. Ikeja Hotel Plc (IKEJAHOTEL) led the gainers chart while Union Bank of Nigeria Plc (UBN) led the losers chart.

Volume traded decreased by 62.25 percent to 195.99 million shares, valued at N2.80 billion and exchanged in 4,876 deals. ‘’We opine that gains should persist due to relatively attractive price levels of high quality counters,’’ the Cordros report said.