Trading on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange sustained its positive momentum as market capitalisation increased by N120.7billion to close at N13.3trillion. The All Share Index (ASI) advanced 109bps to 27,352.94 points following price appreciation in MTNN(+2.6%), NESTLE (+7.0%) and ETI (+9.6%).
Similarly, activity level rose as volume and value traded advanced by 73.6% and 39.5% respectively to 364.0m units and N4.5bn. The most active stocks by volume were UBA (64.7m units), ACCESS (58.1m units) and GUARANTY (44.0m units) while GUARANTY (N1.2bn), ZENITH(N608.1m) and MTNN (N475.7m) led by value. There was sustained bullish sector performance as 4 out of 6 indices advanced. The Industrial Goods and Oil & Gas indices declined, shedding 0.7% and 0.1% respectively, following sell-offs in FORTE (-10.0%) and WAPCO (-0.4%). Conversely, the Consumer Goods and Insurance indices gained the most, advancing 3.5% and 1.9% respectively, due to buying interest in NESTLE (+7.0%), DANGSUGAR (5.5%), MANSARD(+9.4%) and CHIPLC (+3.3%). Similarly, the AFI-ICT and Banking indices also inched higher by 1.5% and 0.4% in that order, following price appreciation in MTNN (+2.6%), ETI(+9.6%), ZENITH (+0.6%) and STANBIC (+0.9%). Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth declined to 1.4x from 2.7x recorded the previous day as 23 stocks advanced relative to 16 laggards. Afrinvest analyst said: “ We expect the bearish run to continue, although we note that there are opportunities for bargain hunting.”
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