Gains by high cap stocks sustain uptrend in All Share Index to third consecutive session
Adesola Afolabi was a businessamlive reporter and Head of Financial desk.
For the third consecutive session this week, the benchmark index maintained a positive performance, advancing 0.4 percent to 30,989.6 points.
The day’s performance was buoyed by gains in market bellwethers such as Dangote Cement that rose 1.1 percent, Guaranty Trust Bank that appreciated 1.8 percent and Access Bank that grew by 6.2 percent.
Year-to-date losses consequently moderated further to -1.4 percent, as market capitalization increased by N43.2 billion to N11.6trillion.
However, activity level was mixed as value traded rose 6.0 percent to N3.1 billion while volume traded fell by 28.7 percent to 268.3m units.
The top traded stocks by value were Zenith Bank (N806.5m), Guaranty Trust Bank (N411.5 m), and SEPLAT (N280.4m), while Zenith (36.5m units), UBA (31.6m units) and FBN Holdings (29.0 m units) were the top traded stocks by volume.
Across sectors, performance was bullish as 4 of 5 indices advanced.
The Insurance index gained 1.1 percent due to price appreciation in Axa Mansard (+7.5%) and Cornerstone Insurance (+5.0%) while the banking index trailed, rising by 0.7 percent on the back of gains in Access (+6.2%), Guaranty (+1.8%) and Wema (+3.2).
The oil and gas index posted a similar performance, up 0.7 percent following bargain hunting in Oando (+1.1%) while the consumer goods index closed flattish as it inched 0.01 percent propped by gains in Champion (+2.6%) and Honeywell Flourmill (+4.9%). However, the industrial goods index performed negatively, down 1.0 percent due to losses in Cement Company of Northern Nigeria (-4.0%).
Investor sentiment fell to 1.3x from 2.1x recorded in the previous trading session as 26 stocks advanced against the 20 stocks that declined.
The top performing stocks for the day were Learn Africa (+9.9%), Ikeja Hotel (+9.9%) and Axa Mansard (+7.5%) while the least performing stocks were Medview (-9.8%), Resort Savings and Loans (-9.1%) and Union Bank (-8.9%).
Equities market analysts at Afrinvest expect that the positive performance will persist into Friday, the final trading session of the week, but maintain a bearish outlook for the market in the near-term.