Equities market halts bearish sentiments with marginal increase in ASI

On Thursday, equities trading session at the Nigerian Exchange Limited witnessed a subtle uptick in the All-Share Index (ASI), edging up by 0.03 per cent to 98,255.72 basis points.

The local bourse edged higher in trading session as buying interest in Guaranty Trust Holding Company supported market performance having appreciated in shared value by 5.3 per cent.

Accordingly, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns printed 0.0 percent and +31.4 percent, respectively.

Due to the marginal lift in the the overall sentiment at the local bourse on Thursday, equities investors earned N17.96 billion as the market capitalization settles at N55.57 trillion.

As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was mixed as 22 tickers lost relative to 21 gainers.

On the performance board of individual stocks, standout performers included Learn Africa, Tantalizer, Mutual Benefits Assurance, Guaranty Trust Holding Company and Oando showcasing robust share price gains by 10.0 percent, 7.69 percent, 5.45 per cent, 5.26 percent and 4.90 percent, respectively.

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Conversely, PZ, Sovereign Insurance, Honeywell Flourills, African Prudential and Jaiz Bank endured share price losses of -9.94 per cent, -9.52 per cent, -8.23 per cent, -5.84 per cent and -5.00 per cent, respectively.

Sectoral performance reflected a positive trajectory, with gains observed in the Banking, Insurance, and Industrial Goods indices, rising by 1.06 percent, 0.47 percent, and 0.04 percent, respectively.

However, the Consumer Goods sector experienced a marginal setback of 0.54 percent, while the Oil/Gas sector exhibited subdued performance.

Bullish momentum echoed throughout trading activities, with remarkable surges across key metrics: total deals, volume, and value escalated by 3.62 percent, 111.99 percent, and 81.56 percent, respectively, totaling 8,415 deals, 676.42 million units, and N16.66 billion.

Notably, Nigerian Breweries emerged as the day’s most traded security in terms of both volume and value, with 300.36 million units valued at N6.91 billion, exchanged in 349 trades, closely followed by United Bank for Africa.

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE