By InvestAdvocate

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Tuesday sustained its bullish trend as the all-share index (ASI) climbed 0.39 percent to close the session at 28,034.32 points, following buying interest in Consumer and Banking names.

“Today’s performance further reduced the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date losses to 1.06 percent and 2.12 percent respectively, according to Cordros daily market update.

Cordros reports at the close of the session, the Oil and Gas index rose by 1.51 percent, on the back of price appreciations in the shares of first dual listed Nigerian oil and gas upstream firm, Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc by 5.00 percent.

The Consumer Goods and Banking indices gained 0.58 percent and 1.02 percent each, bolstered by buying interest in the shares of beermaker, Nigerian Breweries Plc and food and beverage producer, Nestle Nigeria Plc both appreciating 0.06 percent and 3.13 percent apiece. While Nigeria’s top tier lenders, Zenith Bank Plc and United Bank for Africa Plc gained 3.37 percent and 1.96 percent respectively.

On the flipside, the Industrial Goods and Insurance indices dropped 0.66 percent and 0.32 percent each, following selloffs in the shares of cement manufacturer, Lafarge Cement Wapco Plc and insurer, NEM Insurance Plc; both losing 1.86 percent and 2.44 percent respectively.

At the close of the session on the Nigerian bourse, market breadth was negative, with 13 gainers and 21 losers reported, according to data from the NSE. SEPLAT emerged the top gainer with a gain of N17.50 per share, while drugmaker, Fidson Healthcare Plc topped the losers chart with a loss of 0.08 kobo per share.

In terms of turnover, total volume traded on the Nigerian equities market increased by 36.58 percent to 324.19 million shares, valued at N 2.72 billion and exchanged in 3,335 deals.

“We expect sentiments to be driven by the gradual release of Q3-2016 corporate earnings,” the Cordros update affirmed.