On Wednesday, the Nigerian equities market reversed the week’s losses and traded positively as the benchmark Index rose by 0.55 per cent to settle at 44,050.44 basis points.
The bullish trade followed bargain-hunting in Zenith Bank and Guaranty Trust Holding Company as the banking stocks appreciated by 8.5 per cent and 6.6 per cent.
Consequently, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns increased to +0.5 per cent and +3.1 per cent, respectively.
Also, bullish sentiment in telco heavyweights, MTN Nigeria, BUA Foods and Zenith Bank drove the market’s rebound as their respective share prices appreciated by 0.32 per cent, 0.80 per cent and 8.46 per cent.
Equities investors, therefore, earned N131.92 billion as market capitalisation closed higher at N23.99 trillion.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative as 22 stocks lost relative to 20 gainers. On the performance chart, Eterna and Guinness recorded the highest losses of the day having depreciated in share value by 10.0 per cent, respectively; while Cornerstone Insurance and MRS topped the gainers’ list after their respective share prices appreciated by 10.0 per cent and 9.7 per cent.
Analysing by sectors, the Banking, Insurance and Industrial Goods indices recorded gains by 4.2 per cent, 0.8 per cent and 0.4 per cent, respectively, while the Oil & Gas and Consumer Goods indices closed in the red by 0.4 per cent and 0.2 per cent, respectively.
Analysis of market activities on Wednesday showed trade turnover settled higher relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions up by 141.12 per cent.
A total of 159.44 million shares valued at N2.86 billion were exchanged in 3,039 deals. Fidelity Bank led the volume chart with 27.95 million units traded while Airtel Africa led the value chart in deals worth N626.62 million.
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