Stock market increases by 0.11%

By Philemon Adedeji

Nigerian Equities Market maintained positive posture as the key market indicator inches up further by 53.29 basis points while market breadth remained positive.

The NGX All-Share Index inched up by 0.11 per cent to close at 49,889.80 index points as against 0.39 per cent gain recorded to close at 49,836.51 index points at the end of the trading session on Wednesday.

The market gain was driven by price appreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks amongst which are BUA Cement, Flour Mills of Nigeria, Access Holdings, FCMB Group and Pharma-Deko Plc.

Analysts at GTI Securities Limited said, “Bullish sentiment persists among investors in the equity market, we expect mixed sentiments to continue throughout the week.”

As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive as 14 stocks gained relative to 12 losers.

Absolutely, the market capitalisation value gained N28.74 billion to close at N26.908 trillion from N26.880 it closed for previous trading day.

The total volume traded decreased by 37.63 per cent to close at 229.12 million shares, worth  N1.75 billion and exchanged in 3,575 deals.

Sectoral performance was broadly negative as seven (7) NGX sector index closed northward, eight (8) closed southward while three (3) closed flat. The NGX Industrial Goods Index inched up by 0.99 per cent to top the gainers chart while the NGX MERIGRW Index dipped by 0.91 per cent to top the losers’ chart.

On the gainers chart, Pharmadeko led the gainers with 7.43 per cent to close at N1.88 per share, followed by UPDC and Consolidated Hallmark Insurance which gained 5 per cent each increased to close at N1.08 and N0.63 per share respectively.

First City Monument Bank which recorded as the last fourth gainer rose by 4.92 per cent increased to close at N3.20 per share and Fidelity Bank grew by 4.39 per cent increased to Close at N3.33 per share.

On the other hand, mutual benefit assurance led the losers chart with dip of 9.38 per cent to close at N0.29 per share, followed by Computer Warehouse Group which recorded as the second best loser depreciated by 9.09 per cent to close at N0.90 per share, while Transcorp went down by 7.08 per cent to close at N1.05 per share.

Lasaco Assurance and Sterling Bank diminished by 0.06 kobo each to close at N0.96 and N1.46 per share respectively.

Transactiom in the share of Sterling bank topped the activities chart with 108.698 million shares valued at N159.822 million, followed by Guaranty Trust Holding Company which traded 34.251 million shares worth N680.452 million while Fidelity Bank transacted 15.553 million shares worth N50.592 million.

Mutual Benefit Assurance traded 9.181 million shares valued at N2.770 million and Zenith Bank accounted 7.452 million shares valued at N162.231 million.

Sterling Bank was the most traded stock by volume with 108.69 million units traded while GTCO was the most traded stock by value which is put at N680.45 million share.