Equities market on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) reverse three days of bears to close on Wednesday’s trading with 0.06 per cent marginal appreciation as the All Share Index (ASI) settle at 23,709.44 basis points.
Similarly, the market capitalisation was pegged at N12.356 trillion, as investors gain N7.056 billion as market breadth closed positive as gainers outweighed losers with 20 against eight losers.
Specifically, on the performance board, Unilever Nigeria led the gainers’ chart having appreciated by 9.96 per cent to close at N12.70 Kobo per share, Mobil followed closely as its share value increased by 9.94 per cent or N16 to close N167.90 Kobo per unit.
May and Baker also gained 9.70 per cent or 26 Kobo to end the day’s trade N2.94 Kobo, NPF Microfinance Bank notched 13 Kobo or 9.63 per cent to close at N1.48 Kobo per share, while Mansard Insurance close at N1.71 Kobo having gained 13 Kobo or 8.23 per cent.
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Conversely, Union Diagnostic Centre and Jaiz Bank led the decliner’s chart as they closed trade at 29 Kobo and 58 Kobo per share respectively having lost 6.45 per cent each. Champion Breweries also declined in share value by 6.17 per cent, while AIICO Insurance depreciated by 4.12 per cent to close at 93 Kobo per share.
The sectoral performance was positive, as all sector indices recorded gains. The Oil and Gas (+2.7%) index led the day’s gains, followed by the Insurance (+1.9%), Banking (+0.6%) and Consumer Goods (+0.4%) indices. The Industrial Goods (+0.0%) index was flat.
Market Activity improved as the total volume of trades increased by 2.2 per cent to 159.24 million units, from 156 million shares traded in the previous session.
FBN Holdings, Access Bank, United Bank for Africa, Regal Insurance and Zenith Bank ended the trading day as top performers in terms of volume while FBN Holdings, Nigerian Breweries, Nestle Nigeria, MTN Nigeria and Zenith Bank made up the top five performers in terms of the value of units traded.
Analyst at APT Securities, however, expected a push up in activity in next trading session to further strengthen Wednesday’s positive stance as an activity has dwindled consecutively into the midweek.