Nigerian stocks sustained gains of the previous session Thursday, closing positive with market capitalisation advancing by N174.8 billion to settle at N12.4 trillion.
The positive performance helped market index to inch up by 1.4 percent to close at 36,112.37 points as against 0.58 percent appreciation recorded previously, while year-to-date return improved to 34.4 percent.
However, market activity declined as volume and value traded fell 21.0 percent and 23.1 percent to settle at 222.7 million units and N4.2 billion respectively.
The major drivers of Thursday’s performance were DANGCEM (+4.7%), GUINNESS (+10.2%), NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+0.8%) and STANBIC (+2.3%).
Performance across sectors was mixed. The industrial goods index advanced the most, up 2.9 percent on account of gains in DANGCEM (+4.7%) and WAPCO (+1.3%), with the consumer goods index following, closing 1.0% higher due to appreciations in NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+0.8%), GUINNESS (+10.2%) and DANGSUGAR (+3.5%).
Conversely, the oil & gas index led sector losers, down 2.9 percent as a result of sell-offs in SEPLAT (-5.0%) and OANDO (-3.5%). In the same manner, losses in FBNH (-4.3%) and NEM (-3.8%) dragged the banking (-0.3%) and insurance (-0.1%) indices lower.
Market breadth closed negative as GUINNESS led 19 Gainers as against 22 Losers topped by SEPLAT at the end of the trading session- an improved performance when compared with previous outlook.
Thursday’s best performing stocks were GUINNESS (+10.2%), DANGCEM (+4.7%) and AIICO (+3.6%), while SEPLAT (-5.0%), NCR (-4.9%) and SKYEBANK (-4.8%) were the worst.
The positive close was largely attributed to bargain hunting in stocks, which had previously declined with analysts envisaging the market to close the week in the green.
