By Yakubu LAAH InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-The bulls on Wednesday returned to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) halting a six-consecutive day of losses. At the close of trading on the domestic bourse, all-share index (ASI) closed at 27,945.02 points, while market capitalisation fell by N24.25 billion to N9.60 trillion.
“Today’s positive close cut the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date losses to 5.58 percent and 2.43 percent respectively, Cordros daily market update affirmed.
Cordros reports that the Banking index gained by 13.41 percent driven by positive investor reaction to the release of FBN Holdings Plc half-year 2016 result and the positive performance in the shares of Nigeria’s top tier lenders, Zenith Bank Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc and Access Bank Plc all appreciating 4.73 percent, 4.98 percent and 7.55 percent apiece; while financial HoldCo, FBNH climbed up by 3.48 percent.
Similarly, gains in the shares of insurers, Custodian & Allied Insurance Plc and Axa Mansard Insurance Plc climbed up 0.26 percent, 4.90 percent each to drive the Insurance index up 1.21 percent to positive territory.
In the same vein, the Consumer Goods index increased by 2.12 percent following the good performance in the shares of Nigeria’s top brewer, Nigerian Breweries Plc and Honeywell Insurance Plc both gaining 1.12 percent and 4.64 percent respectively.
On the flipside, is the Industrial Goods index dropping 3.07 percent and Oil & Gas index declining 0.94 percent to close in red, following losses reported in the shares of cement producer, Lafarge Cement Wapco Plc and first dual listed Nigerian oil and gas upstream firm, Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc both lost by 0.41 percent and 5.00 percent apiece.
At the close of transactions on the NSE, market breadth was positive, with 24 gainers and 14 losers posted. Oando for the second straight day emerged the top gainer with a gain of 0.57 kobo per share; while Newrest ASL Plc for (AIRSERVICES) topped the losers chart with 0.10 kobo per share.
In terms of turnover, total volume traded fell by 24.25 percent to 286.72 million shares, valued at N2.34 billion, and traded in 4.316 deals.
“The MPC’s rate hike decision and the expected rise in fixed income and money market yields point to potential flight from equities,” the Cordros report added.
