Nigerian equity market extends uptrend to fourth trading sessions

The Nigerian equity market sustained its rally for the fourth consecutive trading days on Wednesday, on the back of appreciations by bellwether stocks like Access Bank, GTBank, Mobil, and 15 others.

The All-Share Index (ASI) was higher by 40.10 absolute points, growing 0.16 per cent to close at 24,882.04 points, while the Market Capitalization gained N20.92 billion, representing 0.16 per cent growth to close at N12.98 trillion, moderating the year-to-date loss to -7.3 per cent.

The top gainers were CAP, UAC-PROP and Glaxosmith were the top three advancers out of the 18 gainers, while Eterna, Livestock and Mutual Benefit emerged the top decliners of the 12 losers.

The volume and value of equities traded were up 148.2 per cent and 167.1 per cent to 383.3 million units and ₦3.9 billion respectively.

FBNH (66.4m units), Access Bank (59.2m units) and Zenith Bank (30.8m units) were the most active stocks in terms of volume, while Presco (₦1.3bn), Zenith Bank (₦521.2m) and Access Bank (₦378.8m) led by value.

The Banking and Oil & Gas indices rose 0.1 per cent apiece due to price appreciation in STANBIC (+5.0 per cent), GUARANTY (+1.9 per cent), MOBIL (+0.9 per cent) and JAPAULOIL (+4.8 per cent).

Similarly, the Consumer and Industrial Goods indices appreciated 0.01 per cent each due to bargain hunting in PZ (+1.8 per cent) and CAP (+9.7 per cent).

However, the Insurance index was the lone laggard, falling 0.01 per cent following a loss in LASACO (-4.0 per cent).