Business

Stock market halts losses as ASI adds 0.12%

The equities market ends five uninterrupted sessions of losses on Wednesday, as the All Share Index (ASI) of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) rose by 0.12 per cent to settle at 64,267.36 basis points.

Given the bullish sentiment in the market, the year-to-date performance of the index increased to 25.40 per cent.

Specifically, investor interests in FBN Holdings, Lafarge Africa and Nigerian Breweries kept the market in the green, as these large cap stocks appreciated by 1.12 per cent, 4.32 per cent and 2.70 per cent, respectively.

Equities investors, therefore, gained N40.90 billion cumulatively as the market capitalisation settled at N34.97 trillion by the end of trading activities at the local bourse.

As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive, as 31 tickers gained relative to 25 losers.

On the performance board, Nascon and Chams topped the gainers’ list after their respective share prices inclined by 10.0 per cent, while Thomas Way and University Press recorded the highest losses of the day having dipped in share value by 10.0 per cent and 9.8 per cent, respectively.

Also, performance across sub-sector gauges was bullish, as the NGX Insurance index, the NGX Consumer Goods index, and the NGX Industrial index increased by 0.04 per cent, 0.16 per cent, and 0.22 per cent, respectively. Conversely, the NGX Banking index lost 0.35 per cent, while the NGX Oil/Gas index remained unchanged.

On Wednesday, activities at the local bourse was unimpressive as analysis of market activities showed that trade turnover settled lower relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions down by 44.62 per cent. A total of 330.78 million shares valued at N4.27 billion were exchanged in 6,251 deals.

Transnational Corporation led the volume chart with 58.83 million units traded while FBN Holdings led the value chart in deals worth N502.76 million.

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