By Peter OBIORA InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-Bloodbath at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Tuesday ended seven (7) consecutive losses as all-share index (ASI) gained marginally 0.68 percent on the demand of blue-chips to close at 30,112.62 points.
Market capitalisation grew by N69.64 billion to close at N10.32 trillion. The gain pared the Month-to-Date (M-t-D) and Year-to-Date (Y-t-D) returns to a negative 0.22 percent and 13.11 percent respectively.
According to Cordros daily market update, this gain is coming on the heels of demand for blue-chips like lender Access Bank Plc, cement producer, Dangote Cement Plc and beer maker, Nigerian Breweries Plc following sell-offs in the previous session. “The gain was recorded despite price declines across the market,” the update affirmed.
The Cordros report says a4.97 percent gain in the shares of DANGCEM led to a 1.74 percent rise in the Industrial Goods index, the sole gainer amongst the five (5) NSE sector indices.
On the contrary, the report added that the Insurance index had the worst performance with a 1.80 percent decline, the Oil/Gas index followed with a 1.38 percent drop, while the Banking index lost 1.07 percent. Similarly, the Consumer Goods index also depreciated 0.78 percent.
At the close of the day’s trading on the Nigerian bourse, market breadth recorded a positive outlook, reporting 12 gainers and 33 losers.
Cement producer, DANGCEM emerged top gainer with a gain of N8.52 per share, while soap and detergent makers, PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc topped the losers chart with a loss of 3.22 kobo per share to close the day.
In terms of turnover, volume traded on the Nigerian equities market dipped by 35.34 percent to 307.99 million shares, valued at N3.62 billion and traded in 4,365 deals.
“We expect cautious trading to continue,” the Cordros update affirmed.
