By InvestAdvocate

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Wednesday recorded a modest gain as the all-share index (ASI) advanced 0.08 percent to close at 27,120.39 points.

‘Today’s activities pared the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date losses to 4.29 percent and 5.49 percent respectively,’ Cordros daily market update affirmed.

According to the report, the Consumer Goods and Banking indices closed higher by 0.51 percent and 0.04 percent each, bolstered by gains in the shares of Nigeria’s top beer producer, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc, soap and detergent maker, Unilever Nigeria Plc; all gaining 0.34 percent, 0.78 percent and 4.60 percent apiece.

Lenders, Zenith Bank Plc, United Bank for Africa Plc and Ecobank Transnational Incorporated all appreciated by 0.67 percent, 1.67 percent and 0.31 percent respectively. The Industrial Goods also gained by 0.04 percent, benefitted from price appreciations in the shares of Nigerian glass maker, Beta Glass Plc by 1.61 percent.

On the flipside, the Insurance index declined by 0.57 percent, owing to selloffs in the shares of insurers, AIICO Insurance Plc losing by 3.39 percent, reinsurer, Continental Reinsurance  Plc down by 3.00 percent; while the Oil & Gas index dipped by 0.65 percent on the back of Forte Oil Plc losing 2.99 percent.

At the close of the session on the domestic bourse, market breadth was neutral, with 17 gainers and losers apiece, according to data from the NSE.

E-tranzact International Plc emerged the top gainer with a gain of 0.47 kobo per share; while construction giant, Julius Berger Plc topped the losers table with a loss of N2.00 per share to close the session.

In terms of turnover on the Nigerian equities market, total volume traded increased further by 40.96 percent to N159.99 million shares, valued at N1.74 billion, and traded in 2,396 deals.

“We expect gains to be sustained in tomorrow’s session,” the Cordros update added.