Nigerian equity market sustains rally, gains 1.0%

The positive trend in the Nigerian equity market continued Wednesday as it gained 1.0 per cent, driven paying interest in bellwether stocks.

The All-Share Index (ASI) added 1.0 per cent to close at 24,452.23 points on the back of buying interest in Dangote Cement, Zenith Bank and Bua Cement, while the market capitalization was higher by ₦130.0 billion to ₦12.7 trillion, taking the year to date yield to -8.9 per cent.

The volume and value of equities traded rose 31.1 per cent and 37.1 per cent to 427.0 million units and ₦5.3 billion respectively.

The most active stocks by volume were Zenith Bank (75.1m units) Access Bank (50.8m units), and Guinness Nigeria (34.2m units), other the other hand,  while Zenith Bank (₦1.2 billion), Dangote Cement  (₦972.4m) and GTBank (₦740.9m) led the value chart.

The Banking (+2.8%) and Insurance (+1.7%) indices led the gainers as a result of price appreciation in Zenith Bank (+4.1%), GTBank (+2.4%), AIICO (+4.2%) and WAPIC (+6.9%).

The Industrial Goods appreciated 1.3 per cent and Oil & Gas 0.1 per cent, driven by gains by Dangote Cement, Bua Cement and Oando.

The Consumer Goods index advanced 0.1 per cent, on the back of price upticks in Dangote Sugar (+0.4%) and Cadbury (+1.3%).

The AFR-ICT index was, however, was flat at the end of Wednesday’s closing session.