June 6, 2018
By Peter OBIORA InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-Gains on Wednesday persisted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) for the third consecutive session, with the benchmark index posting an uptick of 1.53 percent to 38,435.20 points on bargain hunting across major sectors.
“Year-to-Date and Month-to-Date returns turned positive, closing at 0.50 percent and 0.87 percent respectively, according to Cordros daily market update.
The update says at the close of the session’s trading, all sectoral indices closed positive, with the Industrial Goods index gaining +4.16 percent to post the largest gain, owing to sturdy interests in the shares of Lafarge Cement Wapco Nigeria Plc which surged +9.35 percent.
Still on the uptick is the Consumer Goods and Banking indices which gained by +2.51 percent and +1.15 percent apiece following demands in the shares of Fidelity Bank Plc and AIICO Insurance Plc which gained +9.91 percent and +4.92 percent each.
In the same vein, the Consumer Goods index gained +2.51 percent on demands in the shares of Flour Mills Nigeria Plc which appreciated by +5.78 percent, while the Oil & Gas index inched up +0.63 percent on the shares of oil marketing major, Forte Oil Plc which grew by +4.32 percent.
Cordros reports that at the close of the session’s trading, market breadth remained positive, with 41 gainers and 16 losers posted and led by Fidelity Bank +9.91 percent and Guinea Insurance Plc emerged the worst performing stock with a loss of -5.00 percent.
Total volume and value of trades increased by 15.73 percent and 11.91 percent to 393.12 million units and N6.67 billion respectively and exchanged in 5,285 deals.
“Gains are likely to extend in the equities market, on the back of attractive prices of value stocks and still-positive macroeconomic fundamentals,” the update added.