Renewed interest in bellwethers pushes NSE’s indices by N7 billion
The equities market halted losing streak to close in an upbeat yesterday, occasioned by renewed interest in high value stocks, causing market capitalisation to gain N7billion.
Specifically, at the close of trading, Wednesday, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All Share Index (ASI) increased by 13.54 absolute points or 0.06 per cent to close at 23,709.44 points. Similarly, the market capitalisation rose by N7billion to close at N12.356trillion.
The uptrend was impacted by gains recorded in large and medium capitalised stocks, amongst which were; Mobil Nigeria, Total Nigeria, Unilever Nigeria, Stanbic IBTC Holdings, and Guaranty Trust Bank.
Analysts at APT Securities and Funds Limited, said: “We expect a push up in activity in next trading session to further strengthen yesterday’s positive stance as activity have dwindled consecutively into the mid-week.”
Also, Vetiva Capital said: “We expect the market to trade mixed tomorrow, as investors continue to cherry-pick on cheap counters, while taking profit on those that had yielded positive returns in the short term with activity level remaining around the week’s average.”
Market breadth closed positive, with 20 gainers versus eight losers. Unilever Nigeria recorded the highest price gain of 9.96 per cent to close at N12.70 per share.
Mobil Nigeria followed with 9.94 per cent to close at N176.90, and May and Baker Nigeria gained 9.70 per cent to close at N2.94, per share.
NPF Microfinance Bank rose 9.63 per cent to close at N1.48, while AXA Mansard Insurance appreciated by 8.23 per cent to close at N1.71, per share.
On the other hand, Union Diagnostic & Clinical Services, and Jaiz Bank led the losers’ chart by 6.45 per cent, each, to close at 29 kobo and 58 kobo, respectively, while Champion Breweries followed with 6.17 per cent fall to close at 76 kobo, per share.
Aiico Insurance lost 4.12 per cent to close at 93 kobo, and Fidson Healthcare shed 2.85 per cent each to close at N2.39, per share.
However, the total volume traded fell 0.72 per cent to 159.235 million shares worth N1.540billion, traded in 3,573 deals. Transactions in the shares of FBN Holdings topped the activity chart with 50.772 million shares valued at N242.086million.
Access Bank followed with 10.850 million shares worth N68.609million, while United Bank for Africa (UBA) traded 9.789 million shares at N59.526million.
Regency Alliance Insurance exchanged 7.531 million shares valued at N1.506million, while Zenith Bank sold 7.408 million shares worth N111.803million.
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