By Yakubu LAAH InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Monday trudged up 0.27 percent on sustained bargain hunting to commence the week.
At the close of the today’s trading, activities continued on a bullish note with the all-share index (ASI) closing at 25,890.94 basis points, while market capitalisation grew by N24.37 billion to N8.91 trillion as investors were upbeat across board.
“Today’s gains further increased the Month-to-Date gain to 5.37 percent and cut the Year-to-Date loss to 9.61 percent,” according to Cordros daily market update.
The update reports that the Insurance sector inched up by 0.90 percent and recorded the highest gain, on the back of price appreciations in the shares of insurers, Axa Mansard Insurance Plc and Custodian and Allied Insurance Plc by 4.90 percent and 4.85 percent respectively.
In the same vein, the Oil & Gas, Banking and Consumer Goods indices closed higher, following positive interests in the shares of oil marketer, Total Nigeria Plc by 3.77 percent, Nigeria’s top tier lender, Zenith Bank Plc 0.16 percent and fast consumer moving goods firm (FCMG), Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc 0.18 percent apiece.
However, the Industrial index, which closed flat, didn’t get a boost from the shares of Nigeria’s most capitalised listed company and cement producer, Dangote Cement Plc which has been bullish in the market in the past couple of sessions, the Cordros update added.
At the close of the day’s business on the Nigerian bourse, market breadth sustained a positive momentum, with 20 gainers and 12 losers declared, according to the NSE’s daily stock market statistics.
FCMG firm, Tiger Branded Consumer Goods Plc emerged the top gainer with a gain of 0.17 kobo per share; while Union Dicon Salt Plc topped the losers chart with a loss of 0.59 kobo per share to close the day.
In terms of turnover, total volume traded on the Nigerian equities market in the review session declined by 27.49 percent to 186.38 million shares worth N1.31 billion and traded in 3,106 deals.
“Today’s market breadth indicates that investors’ confidence remains resilient. We therefore expect gains to continue in tomorrow’s session,” the Cordros update affirmed.
