By Yakubu LAAH InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Tuesday rebounded on renewed bargain hunting as all-share index (ASI) climbed up 0.13 percent close at 24,659.17 points, while market capitalisation grew by N2.84 billion to N8.48 trillion.
“Today’s activities pared the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date losses to 2.56 percent and 13.91 percent respectively,” Cordros daily market update affirmed.
This is coming on the heels of the start of the trading session which was delayed about two (2) hours today owing to due diligence checks by the NSE on its trading platform.
However, at the close of today’s session on the Nigerian equities market, the Banking and Insurance indices closed higher by 2.04 percent and 0.96 percent apiece, following gains in the shares of Nigeria’s top tier lender, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc 2.28 percent, financial HoldCo, FBN Holdings Plc 1.21 percent. On the part of the insurance sector, reinsurance firm, Continental Re-Insurance Plc climbed up 1.98 percent and Axa Mansard Insurance Plc gained 2.94 percent, according to the Cordros daily market update.
On the flipside, the report says that price declines in the shares of beermaker, Nigerian Breweries Plc and cement producer, Dangote Cement Plc by 1.91 percent and 0.02 percent each; led to the Consumer and Industrial Goods sectors dipping 0.91 percent and 0.04 percent respectively. While the Oil & Gas index closed in red 0.14 percent, following the drop recorded in the shares of oil marketing company, Oando Plc by 1.91 percent.
At the close of today’s trading on the Nigerian bourse, market breadth turned positive, with 22 gainers and 16 losers posted, the NSE daily market statistics said. Pan-African lender, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) emerged the top gainer with a gain of 0.70 kobo per share; while UAC of Nigeria Plc topped the losers chart with a loss of 0.97 kobo per share to close the session.
In terms of turnover, total volume traded on the Nigerian equities market increased by 76.49 percent to 228.90 million shares, valued at N1.44 billion, and traded in 3,239 deals.
“Despite today’s gain being marginal, market breadth indicates renewed investor interest, which we expect to be sustained in tomorrow’s session,” the Cordros update added.
