The Nigerian equities market improved marginally on Thursday by 0.10 per cent as price appreciation witnessed in Guaranty (+2.6 per cent), IntBrew (+9.6 per cent) and Mobil Plc (+9.9 per cent) drove the benchmark index higher.
Specifically, the Nigerian Stock Exchange all-Share Index (NSEASI) advanced by 34 points or 0.1 per cent to close the session at 34,803.00 index points.
Consequently, investors recouped N18 billion as market capitalisation rose to N18.185 trillion from N18.167 the previous day, while the year to date return improved to 29.6 per cent.
However, the activity level declined as volume and value traded fell by 40.8 per cent and 48.9 per cent to 257.556 million units and N3.53 billion respectively.
The most traded stocks by volume were Zenith Bank (40.6million units), Transnational Corporation (23.2million units) and Access Bank (20.9million units), while Zenith Bank (N999.3million), MTN (N686.1million) and GTB (N242.0million) led by value.
Also, analysis of trading statistics for the session reveal flat sentiment as measured by market breadth following emergence of 21 gaining stocks against 21 declining counterparts.
The gainers were led by Mobil Pc, gaining N18.80 to close at N208.80, followed by Guinness with N1.30 price gain to close at N19.30 while Guaranty trialed with N0.90 to close at N35.40 per share.
Other gainers include Cadbury and International Breweries, gaining N0.80 and N0.63 to close the session at N9.60 and N7.18 per share respectively.
On the flip side, Dangote Sugar led decliners as it shed N0.65 to close at N20 per share while Afriprud lost N0.36 to close at N5.89 per share. Three banking stocks – UBN, UBA and FBNH, trailed with N0.30, N0.25 and N0.20 losses to close at N5.50, N8.25 and N7.25 per share accordingly.
Bullish sector performance
The performance across sectors was bullish as four of the six indices closed northward while the industrial goods and AFR-ICT indices closed flat.
Specifically, the oil & gas index led gainers, up 2.8 per cent due to bargain hunting in Mobil Plc (+9.9 per cent) and Oando (+9.2 per cent).
Similarly, the insurance and consumer goods indices rose 1.0 per cent and 0.6 per cent respectively, owing to buying interest in WapicPlc (+7.3 per cent), AIICO Insurance (+5.3 per cent ), International Breweries (+9.6 per cent) and Guinness Plc (+7.2 per cent).
Finally, price appreciation in GTB (+2.6 per cent) marginally drove the banking index higher by 2 basis points.
The NSE 30
The NSE 30 Index marginally increased by 0.08 per cent to close at 1,483.78 points as against 1,482.56 points the previous day.
Market turnover closed with a traded volume of 167.03 million units. 11 Plc (Mobil) and International Breweries were the key gainers, while UBN and Fidelity Bank were the key losers.
