The equity market of the Nigeria Exchange Limited resumed from the Sallah holidays to a positive performance as market capitalisation rose by N329.7 billion to N20.1 trillion.
The gain was buoyed by buying interests in Dangote Cement (+7.8 percent), FBNH (+3.5%) and Zenith (+0.8%).
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The All Share Index rose by 1.7% to 38,585.52 points while Year to date (YTD) loss improved to -4.2%.
Trading activities were mixed as volume traded fell by 58.3% to 192.9m units while value traded rose by 41.3% to N1.7bn.
The most traded stocks by volume were sterling Bank (22.5 million units), UCAP (16.9m units), and Fidelity (14.1m units) while GTCO (N392.1m), Zenith (N246.2m), and UCAP (N115.1m) led by value.
Performance across sectors under our coverage was bullish as four indices gained, the Insurance index lost while the AFR-ICT index closed flat.
The Industrial Goods and Oil & Gas indices led the gainers, up 4% and 3.1% respectively, on the back of buying interest in Dangote Cement (+7.8%), TOTAL (+10%), and OANDO (+9.7%).
Similarly, the Banking and Consumer Goods indices appreciated by 31bps and 7bps respectively, due to price appreciation in FBNH (+3.5%), Zenith (+0.8%), Dangote Sugar (+0.3%), and Unilever (+0.8%).
On the flip side, the 1.9% decline in the Insurance index was largely driven by sell-offs in AIICO (-8.7%) and MANSARD (-2.3%).
Investors’ sentiment, as measured by market breadth, waned to 1.8x from 2.4x recorded in the last trading session as 21 stocks gained while 12 stocks lost.
Afrinvest, a market analysis firm, commented thus, “We expect the market to extend the positive performance to the last trading session of the week, driven by positive earnings release by companies.”
