Trading on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) started the week with marginal gain, as buying interest in MTNN (+0.1per cent), Guaranty Trust Bank (+0.2%) and UACN (+5.8%) drove a 1bp uptick in the ASI to settle at 25,574.35 points.
Similarly, market capitalisation rose ₦929.4 million to ₦13.4 trillion while Year to date loss improved to -4.75.
Activity level was mixed as volume traded rose 1.4% to 196.1m units, while value traded declined 6.4% to ₦1.7 billion.
The most traded stocks by volume were FBNH (43.4m units), Chams (26.2m units) and UBA (13.2m units) while MTNN (₦769.7m), FBNH (₦214.5m) and Zenith (₦195.1m) led by value.
Performance across sectors was mixed as 3 indices gained, 2 closed flat and the Banking index was the lone loser, down 0.1% due to price declines in Access (-0.8%) and Jaiz Bank (-3.4%).
Insurance index led the gainers, up 1.4% following price appreciation in Wapic (+8.1), Cornerstone (+4.9%), and Mbenefit (+5.0%). Also, the Consumer Goods and AFR-ICT indices rose 8bps and 4bps respectively due to buying interesting International Brewery (+3.0%) and MTNN (+0.1%). Finally, the Oil & Gas and Industrial Goods indices closed flat.
Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth weakened to 0.6x from the 3.3x recorded previously as 9 stocks gained against the 16 that lost.
