Nigerian equities continued on the positive side on Thursday as investors stepped up bargain-hunting ahead of the end of the business year. Average return stood at 0.51 per cent, equivalent to net capital gain of N66 billion.

Aggregate market value of all quoted equities at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) rose from its opening value of N12.758 trillion to close at N12.824 trillion. The All Share Index (ASI)- the common value-based index that tracks share prices increased from 26,434.00 points to close at 26,569.80 points. Average year-to-date return moderated to -15.46 per cent while average month to date stood at -1.60 per cent.

All sectoral indices closed positive with the exception of the NSE Industrial Goods Index, which declined by 0.81 per cent. The NSE Consumer Goods Index rose by 1.19 per cent. The NSE Banking Index appreciated by 1.10 per cent. The NSE Insurance Index rose by 0.34 per cent while the NSE Oil & Gas Index inched up 0.15 per cent.
There were 17 gainers and 13 losers. Presco led the gainers with a gain of N3.60 to close at N41.45. Nigerian Breweries followed with a gain of N1.45 to close at N52.70. Guaranty Trust Bank rose by N1 to close at N29. Dangote Sugar Refinery added 90 kobo to close at N16 while Cadbury Nigeria appreciated 85 kobo to close at N9.90.

Total turnover however declined by 77.38 per cent to 319.69 million shares valued at N3.07 billion in 2,503 deals.
On the negative side, Union Bank of Nigeria led the decliners with a drop of 30 kobo to close at N6.30. Cutix declined by 14 kobo to close at N1.35 while Lafarge Africa and Unilever Nigeria dropped by 10 kobo each to close at N13.50 and N18.40 respectively.

“We expect the bullish performance to be sustained in the subsequent session however, we maintain our bearish outlook in the near term,” Afrinvest Securities stated.