By Peter OBIORA InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Wednesday sustained its bullish streak as all-share index (ASI) inched up 1.27 percent to close at 31,217.77 basis points, while market capitalisation grew by N134.99 billion to close at N10.73 trillion.
Cordros report say the five (5) day bullish session has led the ASI to gain 5.16 percent in the month of September while reducing the Year-to-Date (Y-t-D) loss to 9.92 percent.
The update says this trend is coming on the heels of huge gains in key Industrial and Consumer Goods stocks.
According to Cordros, two (2) of the five (5) sector indices gained. The Industrial Goods index by 2.55 percent recorded another green session following gains in the shares of cement producers, Dangote Cement Plc by 4.65 percent and Lafarge Cement Wapco Nigeria Plc with 0.51 percent, while price increases in shares of Fast Consumer Moving Goods (FCMG) companies, Honeywell Flour Mills Plc by 9.84 percent and beverage maker Nestle Nigeria Plc with 1.20 percent pushed the Consumer Goods index 0.34 percent higher.
The update says on the contrary, the Banking index continued its descent following losses in shares of the nation’s top lenders Zenith Bank plc and Guaranty Trust Bank Plc by 1.18 percent and 1.15 percent respectively.
It affirmed that profit-taking was witnessed in the Oil & Gas sector led to losses of 0.40 percent as the shares of Eterna Plc and Forte Oil shed 1.55 percent and 0.80 percent accordingly.
Similarly, the Insurance index declined by 0.14 percent following losses in the shares of AIICO Insurance Plc by 2.25 percent and Custody & Allied Insurance Plc 1.22 percent.
At the closing of trading on the local bourse, market breadth maintained a negative outlook with 22 gainers and 26 losers recorded. Honeywell led the gainers chart with a gain of 0.24 kobo per share; while Red Star Express Plc emerged top loser with a loss of 0.22 kobo per share.
In terms of turnover, volume traded dipped by 41.10 percent to N416.97 million shares, valued at N5.24billion and traded in 3,603 deals.
“The negative breadth witnessed today, coupled with recent gains over the past five days indicate an increased likelihood of profit-taking activities on the domestic bourse in the next session,” the Cordros update added.
