By Yakubu LAAH InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Tuesday closed higher 0.45 percent as the all-share index (ASI) closed at 26,020.32 points, while market capitalisation increased by N40.37 billion to N8.95 trillion.
This is coming on the heels of positive investors’ interest in the Consumer Goods shares increasing the Month-to-Date gain to 5.90 percent and cutting the Year-to-Date loss to 9.15 percent, according to Cordros daily market update.
The report says as gains were extended to the fourth consecutive day on the domestic bourse, the Consumer Goods index; the lone gainer climbed up 3.03 percent on the rally in the shares of beermaker, Nigerian Breweries Plc by five (5) percent.
On the flipside, the Banking and Oil & Gas indices closed lower by 1.05 percent and 1.61 percent apiece on the losses recorded in the shares of Nigeria’s top tier lenders, Zenith Bank Plc and Guaranty Trust Bank Plc by 2.20 percent and 0.49 percent respectively.
On the part of the Oil & Gas sector, first dual listed Nigerian oil and gas upstream company, Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc and oil marketer, Total Nigeria Plc declined by 6.06 percent and 0.03 percent respectively.
In the same vein, the Insurance sector dropped 0.85 percent on the losses posted in the shares of Axa Mansard Insurance Plc by 4.67 percent; while the Industrial Goods index traded flat, as the shares of cement producer, Dangote Cement Plc remained unchanged at N168.00 per share.
At the close of trading on the Nigerian bourse, market breadth sustained its negative outlook, with 15 gainers versus 25 losers declared.
Financial services and investment firm United Capital Plc emerged the top gainer for the second straight session with a gain of 0.18 kobo per share compared to 0.16 kobo recorded the previous session, while Seplat topped the losers chart with a loss of N20.00 per share.
In terms of turnover, total volume traded on the Nigerian equities market at the close of today’s trading fell by 16.57 percent to 344.11 million shares valued at N2.46 billion and traded in 4,386 deals.
“We expect the bears to resurface in tomorrow’s session, albeit with a marginal loss, as activities in key Banking, Insurance and Oil & Gas stocks reflect profit-taking,” the Cordros update added.
