Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-The bulls on Thursday returned to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) as rallies in banking stocks pushed the local bourse to a 1.14 percent gain.
At the end of the today’s trading on the Nigerian Equities Market, the all-share-Index (ASI) closed at 23,598.85 basis points, while market capitalisation increased by N91.31 billion to N8.12 trillion, decreasing the Month and Year-to-Date losses each to 17.61 percent, according to Cordros daily market update.
The report affirmed that three (3).of the five (5) sector indices gained, the Banking index was the highest gainer with a gain of 3.3 percent on the appreciation in the shares of Nigeria’s top tier lenders, Zenith Bank Plc and Guaranty Trust Bank Plc both climbing up by 5.00 percent and 2.67 percent respectively.
In the same vein, the Industrial and Consumer Goods indices gained by 1.37 percent and 0.81 percent each on the increase in the share prices of cement producers, Dangote Cement Plc and Lafarge Cement WAPCO Nigeria Plc both appreciating by 1.49 percent and 1.47 percent respectively. On the Consumer Goods sector, brewers, Guinness Nigeria Plc and Nigerian Breweries Plc gained 0.92 percent and 3.47 percent each to push the sector up.
The Cordros report said on the contrary, the Oil & Gas and Insurance indices declined 2.75 percent and 1.03 percent respectively on the back of losses recorded in the shares of Forte Oil Plc and Axa Mansard Insurance Plc by 5.00 percent and 4.78 percent accordingly.
At the close of the session on the Nigerian bourse, market breadth posted a positive outlook, with 27 gainers and 13 losers. Access Bank Plc topped the gainers chart with a gain of 0.35 kobo per share; while soap and detergent maker, Unilever Nigeria Plc emerged the top loser with a loss of N3.80 per share.
In terms of turnover, total volume traded on the local bourse increased by 4.83 percent to close at 273.06 million shares, valued at N2.01 billion in 2,794 total deals.
“We expect the momentum to persist tomorrow as valuations remain attractive,” Cordros update added.
