By InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-The Nigerian equities market on Monday opened the week on a bullish note, with the benchmark index rising by 0.26 percent to close at 27,316.52 points.
“Today’s positive close trimmed the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date losses to 2.48 percent and 4.63 percent respectively,” Cordros daily market update affirmed.
Cordros reports at the close of the session, the Industrial and Consumer Goods indices climbed up by 1.98 percent and 0.86 percent, following buying interest in the shares of cement manufacturers, Lafarge Cement Wapco Plc and Dangote Cement Plc both appreciating by 3.23 percent and 1.66 percent each. While Nestle Nigeria Plc and Nigerian Breweries Plc gained 0.61 percent and 1.85 percent respectively.
On the flipside, the Cordros update said the Oil & Gas and the Banking indices suffered losses by 2.23 percent and 1.66 percent each, owing to selloffs in the shares of oil marketing majors, Forte Oil Plc and Oando Plc by 4.87 percent and 2.55 percent respectively. While lenders, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc and Zenith Bank Plc depreciated by 0.37 percent and 1.96 percent apiece.
Similarly, the Insurance index closed lower by 0.01 percent, owing to declines in the shares of insurer, AIICO Insurance Plc by 4.29 percent.
At the close of the session’s trading on the Nigerian bourse, market breadth was negative, with 11 gainers and 37 losers declared. Soap and detergent producer, Unilever Nigeria Plc emerged the top gainer with a gain of N1.75, while brewer, Champion Breweries Plc topped the losers chart with a loss of 0.33 kobo per share.
In terms of turnover, total volume traded on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) decreased by 45.41 percent to 213.64 million shares, valued at N2.05 billion, and traded in 3,742 deals.
“Despite today’s positive close, we expect bearish sentiments to resurface in tomorrow’s session as today’s activities (sectoral performance and negative market breadth) speak to less-than-significant improvement in investor appetite,” the Cordros update affirmed.
