MTNN, 26 others sustain Nigerian equity market uptrend

The Nigerian equity market sustained uptrend for the third consecutive trading sessions on Tuesday, driven by appreciation in MTNN, Zenith Bank, Bua Cement and 24 others.

The All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 86.63 absolute points, representing a growth of 0.34 per cent to close at 25,413.76 points, while the Market Capitalization gained N45.20 billion, representing an increase of 0.34 per cent to close at N13.26 trillion.

The bourse’s loss so far this year moderated to -5.3 per cent.

Livestock added 10 per cent to top the 26 gainers’ chart; it was followed by Eterna (9.5 per cent) and Jaiz Bank (8.9 per cent), while WAPIC (-5.7 per), UBN (-5.7 per cent) and PZ (-2.4 per cent) shed the most.

The volume of equities investors traded was up 255.6 per cent to 1.1 billion units, while the value traded declined -19.9 per cent to ₦2.1 billion.

Access Bank (22.7 million units), GTBank (10.9m units) and Fidelity Bank (8.5m units), while Dangote Cement (₦356.2m), GTBank (₦279.4m) and Access Bank (₦150.0m) led by value.

The Banking and Consumer Goods sectors were the best performers, appreciating 1.07 per cent and 0.88 per cent respectively, driven by gains made by UBA, Access Bank and Nigerian Breweries.

Also, the Insurance and AFR-ICT sectors rose by 0.80 per cent and 0.09 per cent respectively, buoyed gains in AIICO and MTNN.

However, sell pressures in Dangote Cement caused the Industrial Goods sector to dip by 0.12 per cent, while the Oil & Gas index closed flat.

Analysts from Afrinvest Securities are projecting that the soft gains to be sustained on the back of improved investor appetite