By Kayode Tokede
Trading in the local bourse, returned to positive mood on Thursday, following bargain- hunting in MTN Communications and 22 other stocks.
Specifically, the market capitalisation inched higher by N65 billion or 0.32 per cent, to close at N20.668 trillion from N20.603 trillion on Wednesday.
Also, the All-Share Index rose by 124.62 points or 0.32 per cent to close at 39,670.29 for, 39,545.67 achieved on Wednesday.
Accordingly, month-to-date gain rose to 2.9 per cent, while year-to-date loss moderated to 1.5 per cent.
The positive performance was buoyed by investors’ increased buying interest in some recently depreciated large and medium scale stock prices.
The market positive performance was driven by price appreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks which were; MTNN, BOC Gases, Lafarge Africa, Nigerian Aviation Handling Company and Honeywell Flour Mills.
The market breadth closed positive with 23 gainers and 16 losers.
Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals and NAHCO topped the gainers’ chart with 10 per cent each to close at N1.87 and N2.97 per share, respectively.
Honeywell Flour Mills followed with a 9.96 per cent gain, to close at N2.98 per share.
BOC Gases rose by 9.90 per cent to close at N11.10, while Pharma Deko Plc, went up 9.79 per cent to close at N1.57 per share.
On the other hand, Nigerian Breweries led the losers’ chart in percentage by 8.77 per cent to close at N52 per share.
Consolidated Hallmark Insurance followed with 6.67 per cent to close at 42k, while Sovereign Trust Insurance lost 3.70 per cent to close at 26k per share.
Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, declined 3.64 per cent to close at N5.30, while FCMB Group, shed 3.50 per cent to close at N3.03 per share.
Also, the total volume of trades increased by 52.8 per cent to 201.84 million units, valued N1.68 billion, exchanged in 3,274 deals.
This was in contrast with 132.07 million shares, worth N2.67 billion, exchanged in 3,307 deals on Wednesday.
Transactions in the shares of Courteville Business Solutions topped the activity chart with 34.83 million shares, valued N10.1 million.
ETI followed with 18.68 million shares, worth N102.12 million, while Transcorp traded 12.79 million shares, valued N12.472 million.
NAHCO traded 11.27 million shares worth N31.77 million, while Honeywell Flour Mills transacted 10.98 million shares, worth N32.72 million.
According to analysts at Investment One research, “The equities market closed up today due to the gains recorded in the Industrial sector and MTNN (+2.56per cent).
“Going forward, we expect investor’s sentiments to be swayed by the search for real positive returns and developments in the interest rate space.
“We reiterate that this may be a great period to pick up some quality names with a medium to long-term investment horizon.”