The nation’s stock market on Tuesday sustained the gains it began the month with as the market capitalisation increased further to N13.421tn from N13.410tn.
MTN Nigeria Communications Plc, International Breweries Plc and Ecobank Transnational Incorporated saw buying interests, which drove the All Share Index northwards by eight basis points to 27,586.79bps.
Consequently, the year-to-date loss settled at -12.2 per cent.
Activity level advanced as volume traded rose by 164 per cent to 294.413 million units while value traded increased by 123.9 per cent to N3.496bn.
The top traded stocks by volume were UACN Property Development Company Plc (61.7 million units), Access Bank Plc (55.1 million units) and Guaranty Trust Bank Plc (52 million units) while the top traded stocks by value were GTB (N1.4bn), MTN Nigeria (N487.3m), and Access Bank(N369.4m).
Performance across sectors was mixed as three indices recorded positive performances.
The insurance index led gainers, up by 1.8 per cent due to price appreciation in Continental Reinsurance Plc and Mutual Benefits Assurance Plc.
The industrial goods index trailed, appreciating by 0.1 per cent, following Lafarge Africa Plc and Cutix Plc.
On the flip side, the consumer goods and banking indices declined by 0.4 per cent and 0.3 per cent, respectively, due to sell-offs in Nestlé Nigeria Plc, Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc, Union Bank Nigeria Plc and GTB.
Price depreciation in Oando Plc dragged the oil and gas index down by 0.2 per cent.
Investor sentiment, as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio), weakened to 0.7x from the 1.3x recorded in Monday’s trading session as 13 stocks advanced against 18 that declined.
The best performers were International Breweries, Cornerstone Insurance Plc, Continental Reinsurance, Ecobank and Mutual Benefits, which saw respective gains of 10 per cent, 8.70 per cent, 8.67 per cent, 5.48 per cent and 4.76 per cent.
Tripple G and Company Plc, Sterling Bank Plc, UACN Property, Lasaco Assurance Plc and Union Bank led the losers’ table as their share prices nosedived by 9.52 per cent, eight per cent, 6.82 per cent, 6.67 per cent and 5.71 per cent, respectively.
Analysts at Afrinvest Securities Limited said they maintained a bearish outlook on the equities market in the next trading sessions as investor sentiment remained weak.
