The Nigerian benchmark stock barometer, the Nigerian Stock Exchange All Share Index (NSEASI), clawed back gains from a previous loss to record 0.26 percent appreciation Thursday.
The equities market recovered from previous negative performance to gain 44,460.18 points on price appreciation in DANGCEM, the bourse bellwether, which recorded a 1.9 percentage gain, aside it the market would have closed 23 basis points lower.
The day’s performance thus expands year-to-date (YTD) return to 16.3 percent, with market capitalisation increasing by N58.9 billion to settle at N15.9 trillion.
However, activity level declined as volume and value traded fell 3.3% and 55.7% to close at 630.6m units and N3.4 billion respectively.
Performance across sectors was largely negative as four of five indices closed in the red. The insurance index was the biggest loser, down 0.9 percent following sell-offs in WAPIC (-4.0 %) and LAWUNION (-4.6%).
The consumer goods index followed suit, falling 0.4 percent due to price depreciation in INTBREW (-4.8%), DANGSUGAR (-1.9%) and NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-0.1%). The banking and oil & gas indices trailed, shedding 0.1 percent apiece as ACCESS (-2.0%), GUARANTY (-0.2%) and ETERNA (-4.5%) recorded losses.
On the flip side, the Industrial Goods index was the lone gainer, up 0.7% following gains in DANGCEM (+1.9%) and CCNN (+4.8%).
Investor sentiment, measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio), softened to 0.6x from 0.8x recorded the previous day consequent on 22 stocks advancing against 35 decliners.
The top performing stocks were AIICO (+8.8%), UNILEVER (+5.1%) and UPL (+4.8%) while the worst performers were LASACO (-9.5%), AFRINSURE (-8.3%) and LIVESTOCK (-4.9%).
Although the market performed positively today, are analysts are expecting more profit taking at the close of the week as investor sentiment remains weak.
In the NASD OTC Exchange, total volume and value traded stood at 1,750 units and N194,273 respectively. The SDAFRILAND, SDCSCSPLC, and SDFCWAMCO were the only instruments that traded Thursday.[tribulant_slideshow featured=”true” featurednumber=”” featuredtype=”post”]
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