By InvestAdvocate

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)- The local bourse on Wednesday trudged along, driven by renewed bargain hunting activities which lifted the Nigerian Stock Exchange all-share index (NSE ASI) and market capitalisation by 0.55 percent to close at 27,421.83 points and N9.42 trillion respectively.

“Today’s positive close decreased the Month-to-Date and Year-to- Date losses to 2.10 percent and 4.26 percent respectively,” Cordros daily market update affirmed.

The report says the Banking and Consumer Goods indices appreciated by 0.79 percent and 0.70 percent each, following gains in the shares of Nigeria’s tier one lender, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc and Access Bank Plc by 1.21 percent and 1.82 percent apiece. While brewing giant, Nigerian Breweries Plc and food and beverage producer, Nestle Nigeria Plc climbed up 2.03 percent and 0.61 percent respectively.

In the same vein, price appreciations in the shares of oil marketing major, Total Nigeria Plc by 1.69 percent bolstered the Oil and Gas index by 0.24 percent.

Cordros reports on the downside, that the Insurance and Industrial Goods indices plunged 0.15 percent and 0.04 percent each, owing to losses recorded by insurer, AIICO Insurance Plc by 2.94 percent and chemical producer, Chemical & Allied Product Plc by 9.73 percent respectively.

At the close of the session, market breadth on the Nigerian bourse remained negative, with 19 gainers and 21 losers posted, according to daily market statistics made available by the NSE.

Hospitality firm, Ikeja Hotels Plc emerged the top gainer with a gain of 0.09 kobo per share; while soft drink manufacturer, SevenUp Bottling Company Plc topped the losers chart with a loss of N11.64 per share to close the session.

In terms of turnover, total volume traded on the Nigerian equities market fell by 6.10 percent to 391.37 million shares, valued at N3.40 billion, and exchanged hands in 3,103 deals.

“Given today’s positive performance, we expect bullish sentiments to persist in tomorrow’s session,” the Cordros report said.