By Kayode Tokede

The equities market of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX)  on Thursday closed trading activities in the green, as the market bounced back from the previous day trading session loss with a gain of N14.33 billion.

Yesterday’s positive out turn was due to investors increased buying interest in recently depreciated stock prices across the major market sectors and also, the Nigerian Gross Domestic Product (GDP) expanded by 5.01 per cent.

In summary, the All-Share Index (ASI) grew by 27.36 absolute points, representing an increase of 0.07 per cent, to close at 39,477.18 points. Similarly, the overall market capitalisation value gained N14 billion to close at N20.568 trillion.

The market positive performance was driven by price appreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks which are; Eterna, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria, Presco, Honeywell Flour Mills and UACN Property Development Company (UPDC).

On market outlook, analysts at Afrinvest Limited said, “In the last trading session for the week, we expect a bullish market performance on the back of bargain hunting activities.”

Furthermore, the market breadth closed positive with 27 gainers as against 12 losers. Eterna recorded the highest price gain of 9.97 per cent to close at N7.50, per share. UPDC followed with a gain 9.74 per cent to close at N1.69, while AIICO went up by 8.42 per cent to close at N1.03, per share.

Glaxosmith rose by 7.94 per cent to close at N6.80, while Honeywell Flour Mills gained 7.45 per cent to close at N3.46, per share. On the other hand, Ikeja Hotel led the losers’ chart by 10 per cent to close at N1.26,  per share. SCOA Nigeria  followed with a decline of 9.43 per cent to close at N1.44, while Associated Bus Company down by 8.33 per cent to close at 33 kobo, per share.

Champion Breweries lost 4.55 per cent to close at N2.10, while, Japaul Gold and Ventures shed 3.85 per cent to close at 50 kobo, per share.

However, the total volume of trades declined by 5.6 per cent to 186.327 million units, valued at N1.794 billion, and exchanged in 3,595 deals. Transactions in the shares of Sovereign Trust Insurance topped the activity chart with 19.672 million shares valued at N4.643 million. Lafarge Africa  followed with 17.431 million shares worth N382.415 million, while Honeywell Flour Mills traded 15.038 million shares valued at N52.410 million.

Mutual Benefits Assurance  traded 14.654 million shares valued at N4.520 million, while UPDC transacted 10.395 million shares worth N17.324 million.

Meanwhile, Eterna announced on the Exchange the acquisition of 794.970 million, representing 60.98 per cent equity stake by Preline Limited as part of the divestment process of six of its substantial shareholders.

According to analysts at Investment one research, “The equities market closed up today due to the gains recorded in the Oil & Gas and Banking sectors.

“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.”