The domestic equities market closed in the green on the back of the positive sentiment surrounding the earnings results, which saw investors gained ₦239 billion as market capitalisation increased to ₦15.4 trillion as return so far this year improved to 9.7 percent.
Consequently, the NSE All-Share Index (ASI) rose 158 basis points (bps) to 29,437.60 points due to gains in Nestle (+10.0%), Dangote Cement (+2.2%) and ETI (+7.6%).
Activity level was mixed as volume traded fell 2.7% to 375.2m units while value traded rose 59.0% to ₦4.6bn.
The most traded stocks by volume were Zenith (46.7m units), Fidelity (33.5m units) and ETI (27.5m units) while BUA Cement (₦1.0bn), Zenith (₦1.0bn) and Guaranty (₦394.1m) led by value.
Performance across sectors was bullish as 5 of the 6 indices under review recorded gains save the AFR-ICT index, which closed flat.
Price appreciation in Dangote Cement (+2.2%) drove the Industrial Goods index higher by 1.1%.
Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth weakened to 8.2x from the 23.0x recorded previously as 41 stocks gained against the 5 that declined.