The local bourse closed in the positive region last week as buying interests in Dangote Cement (+6.5 per cent), Fidson (+18.1 per cent) and Julius Berger (+10.0 per cent ) buoyed overall performance.
Consequently, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All-Share Index appreciated 0.6 per cent w/w to settle at 24,200.60 points despite losing four of five trading sessions.
As a result, year-to-date loss eased to -9.0 per cent as market capitalisation rose N73.1bn w/w to close at N12.7tn.
Activity level improved as average volume and value traded rose 19.5 per cent and 83.6 per cent to 242.8m units and N2.7bn respectively.
The top traded stocks by volume were FBNH (154.3m units), UBA (99.3m units) and Nigerian Breweries (89.4m units), while Nigerian Breweries (N2.5bn), Dangote Cement (N2.4bn) and Guaranty Trust Bank (N1.5bn) led by value.
Performance across sectors was bearish as four of six indices under review trended southward w/w.
The oil and gas and insurance indices led laggards, down 4.7 per cent and 0.8 per cent respectively due to losses in Seplat (-10.0 per cent) and Cornerstone (-9.1 per cent). Trailing, the banking and consumer goods indices shed 0.6 per cent and 0.4 per cent respectively on account of price declines in Sterling Bank (-8.0 per cent), Unilever (-4.7 per cent) and International Brewery (-10.5 per cent).
Conversely, the AFR-ICT and industrial goods indices emerged the gainers, up 0.9 per cent and 0.6 per cent respectively following price appreciation in MTNN (+1.7 per cent) and Dangote Cement (+6.5 per cent). Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth ratio advanced to 1.1x from the 0.6x recorded last week as 26 stocks advanced against 24 that declined.
The top-performing stocks for the week were Fidson (+18.1 per cent), Unity Bank (+15.6 per cent) and Royalex (+14.8 per cent), while Prestige (-14.8 per cent), International Brewery (-10.5 per cent) and Seplat (-10.0 per cent) were the laggards.
Analysts expect more corporate earnings releases to dictate the performance of the market.
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