By Peter OBIORA InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-The Bulls on Thursday resurfaced on the Nigerian Bourse after suffering a two-day consecutive loss as all-share index (ASI) inched up 0.85 percent to close at 24,261.69 basis points, while market capitalisation rose by N70.70 billion to N8.34 trillion.
According to Cordros daily market update, today’s trend increased the Month-to-Date (M-t-D) gain on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) to 1.44 percent and easing the Year-to-Date (Y-t-D) loss to 15.29 percent.
The update says that price appreciations in shares of Nigeria’s top tier lender, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc and financial HoldCo, FBN Holdings Plc by 3.21 percent and 3.69 percent respectively moved the Banking index up by 1.44 percent.
Similarly, Nigeria’s foremost beer producers, Nigerian Breweries Plc and Guinness Nigeria Plc appreciated by 4.44 percent and 2.24 percent respectively to take the Consumer Goods sector to a high of 1.69 percent.
Also, the Oil & Gas index climbed up by 0.78 percent as a result of price increases in the shares of oil marketer, Total Nigeria Plc and first dual listed Nigerian oil and gas upstream firm, Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc gaining 3.57 percent and 5.00 percent each.
Conversely, the Insurance and Industrial Goods sectors declined by 0.80 percent and 0.01 percent on the losses recorded in the shares of insurer, AIICO Insurance Plc and paint producer, Portland Paints and Products Plc by 4.76 percent and 4.87 percent respectively.
At the close of today’s session on the nation’s domestic bourse, market breadth remained negative, with 18 gainers and 23 losers, according to the NSE’s daily market statistics.
Pan African lender, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated emerged the top gainer with a gain of 0.75 kobo per share; while integrated energy company engaged in the manufacturing and sale of lubricating oils, importation and bulk/retail sale of petroleum products, Eterna Plc topped the losers chart with a loss of 0.16 kobo per share to end the session.
In terms of turnover, total volume traded slumped by 64.44 percent to 119.34 million shares valued at N959.77 million in 2,464 deals.
“Today’s performance indicates that bullish sentiments still exist as investors find value in low prices. We therefore opine that the market would return a positive close in tomorrow’s session,” the Cordros update affirmed.
