The bullish run on the Nigerian stock market was sustained into the 5th consecutive session as the market capitalisation increased by N120.5bn to close at N11.4tn.
Consequently, the All Share Index (ASI) rose 1.1% to 30,460.68 points driven by price appreciation in DANGCEM (+4.4%), GUINNESS (+9.7%) and UBA (+2.1%), while Year To Date (YTD) loss moderated to -3.1% .
Activity level was, however, mixed as volume traded increased 1.9% to 305.8m units while value traded declined 35.3% to N2.1bn. The top traded stocks by volume were DIAMOND (141.2m units), FIDELITY (18.6m units) and GUARANTY (17.4m units).
Sector performance was mixed as 3 of 5 indices closed northwards. Among gainers, the Insurance index maintained the lead, up 2.3% due to bargain hunting in CUSTODIAN (+9.4%), NEM (+9.6%) and WAPIC (+5.0%).
The Industrial Goods and Consumer Goods indices trailed, rising 1.7% and 0.2% respectively on the back of buying interest in DANGCEM (+4.4%), GUINNESS (+9.7%) and HONEYFLOUR (+9.6%).
On the flip side, the Banking and Oil & Gas indices declined, down 0.7% and 1bp respectively dragged by losses in GUARANTY (-2.7%), FBNH (-2.0%) and OANDO (-3.3%).
Investor sentiment measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) strengthened to 1.5x from 1.4x recorded the previous day as 24 stocks advanced against 16 that declined. The top gainers were SOVRENINS (+10.0%), VERITASKAP (+10.0%) and GUINNESS (+9.7%) while BETAGLAS (-10.0%), NNFM (-9.2%) and RESORTSAL (-8.8%) were the top losers.
Analyst at Afrinvest said: “We are cautiously optimistic of the positive sentiment we observed in the last five trading sessions, hence we recommend strategic investment in fundamentally sound stocks in the short to medium term.”