On Wednesday, the Nigerian equities market halts the bearish trend as gains from high capitalised stock lift the market to a positive close.
Despite trading in the negative zone for most of the day, late interest in bellwethers such as Nestle Nigeria, Dangote Cement and Presco ensured the market ended in the positive territory.
Precisely, the benchmark index of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) closed higher by 1.9 per cent to 39,592.29 basis points, the most significant single-day gain since 4th January. Accordingly, the Month-to-Date gain printed 1.0 per cent, while the Year-to-Date loss moderated to -1.7 per cent.
Investors, therefore, earned N382 million as the market capitalisation settled at N20.63 trillion as against an opening mark of N20.25 trillion.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive, as 24 tickers gained, relative to 13 losers.
On the chart, Northern Nigeria Flour Mills and First Bank of Nigeria Holdings topped the gainers’ list as their share prices advanced by 6.9 per cent and 6.6 per cent respectively; while Mansard Insurance and Julius Berger recorded the most significant losses of the day after their shares dipped by ten per cent respectively.
Sectoral performance was also impressive as the Industrial Goods, Consumer Goods and Banking indices recorded gains by 3.6 per cent, 3.2 per cent and 0.8 per cent respectively, while the Insurance and Oil & Gas indices declined by 2.0 per cent and 0.2 per cent respectively.
However, activities at the local bourse waned on Wednesday as the total volume of trades declined by 9.9 per cent to 474.37 million units, valued at N4.01 billion, and exchanged in 3,547 deals.
FBN Holdings was the toast of investors for the day under review as it made the most traded stock by volume and value at 264.69 million units and N2.05 billion, respectively. YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE Buhari Urges MTN For Quality Service, Downward Price Review In Cost Of Data, Other Services
President Muhammadu Buhari Friday at State House Abuja urged the MTN Group to make the available top-of-the-range service to its Nigerian subscribers… Investors earn N382m as equities market halts bearish strides Investors earn N382m as equities market halts bearish strides Investors earn N382m as equities market halts bearish strides Investors earn N382m as equities market halts bearish strides.