Equities market sustains bulls as investors earn N792.7bn

The bulls retained their grip in the local market for the second consecutive session on Thursday as the All Share Index gained 125 basis points to close at 105,530.74 basis points.

At the Nigerian Exchange, the bullish outturn was primarily driven by price appreciations in MTN Nigeria Communication, Zenith Bank and Oando, having appreciated in share value but 10.00 per cent, 4.49 per cent and 0.40 per cent, leaving the market in the positive terrain and on track for another weekly gain.

This uptick added N792.7 billion to the market capitalization, elevating it to N64.35 trillion and boosting the year-to-date (YTD) return to 2.53 per cent.

As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive, as 34 tickers gained relative to 24 losers.

On the performance board, MTN Nigerian Communication and Honeywell Flour Mills led the gainers’ list having appreciated in share value by 10 per cent and 9.9 per cent, respectively, while RT Briscoe and Sunu Assurance recorded the highest losses of the day having depreciated in share value by 10 per cent, respectively.

Sectoral performance was broadly favourable, with significant advances in banking, consumer goods, and oil/gas, having dipped in value by 1.70 per cent, 0.46 per cent and 0.04 per cent, respectively; while the insurance and industrial goods sectors recorded slight losses of 1.38 per cent and 0.17 per cent, respectively.

Trading activity was relatively muted, with declines of 3.99 per cent, 35.28 per cent, and 47.07 per cent in the number of deals, trading volume, and value, respectively.

A total of 489.53 million shares valued at N13.07 billion were traded across 13,010 transactions, with Universal Insurance leading the trading volume, accounting for 97 million shares worth N72.2 million in 410 deals.

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