By InvestAdvocate

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-The Nigerian equities market on Wednesday maintained its winning streak as all-share index (ASI) closed at 28,260.61 points, while market capitalisation climbed up by N353.45 billion to N9.71 trillion.

“Today’s positive performance extended the Month-to-Date gain to a sizeable 12.76 percent and significantly pared the Year-to-Date loss to 1.33 percent,” Cordros daily market update affirmed.

This is coming on the heels of investors’ positive reaction to yesterday’s MPC’s decision to introduce a flexible interbank forex market, according to Cordros.

The report says the Banking and Insurance sectors gained 5.89 percent and 1.47 percent apiece, on the back of rallies in the shares of Nigeria’s top tier lenders and financial Holdco, Zenith Bank Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc and FBN Holdings Plc by 10.07 percent, 3.81 percent and 5.28 percent respectively.

On the Insurance side, top tier Nigerian insurers. AIICO Insurance Plc , Axa Mansard Insurance Plc and NEM Insurance Plc appreciated by 4.00 percent and 4.98 percent and 4.05 percent each.

Still on the gaining side is the Consumer and Industrial Goods sectors each climbing up by 3.29 percent and 4.16 percent respectively, benefitting from price appreciations recorded by beermakers, Nigerian Breweries Plc 5.00 percent, Guinness Nigeria Plc 4.99 percent, and cement producers, Lafarge Cement Wapco Plc and Dangote Cement Plc both gaining 5.00 percent and 4.11 percent respectively.

On the flipside, the Oil & Gas index bucked the trend, depreciating by 0.12 percent, owing to sell-offs in the shares of oil marketing majors, Mobil Nigeria Plc and Forte Oil Plc by 5.00 percent  and 2.95 percent apiece.

At the close of the session, market breadth on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) remained positive, with 48 gainers and 10 losers posted. Africa’s global lender, the United Bank for Africa Plc emerged the top gainer with a gain of 0.45 kobo per share, while MOBIL topped the losers chart with a loss of N8.75 per share.

In terms of turnover, total volume traded on the Nigerian equities market increased by 73.00 percent to 474.40 million shares, valued at N3.50 billion, and traded in 5,260 deals.

“We expect current momentum to be sustained in the coming session, as the impact of the MPC decision lingers,” the Cordros update added.