By Nse Anthony-Uko
(Sundiata Finance) — The Nigerian equities market, on Wednesday gained 1.04 per cent reversing three day bearish run. In summary, the All Share Index (ASI) gained 361.07 absolute points, representing a growth of 1.04 per cent to close at 35,207.89 points. Similarly, the market capitalisation gained N124 billion, to close at N12.137 trillion.
The upturn was impacted by gains recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Dangote Cement, Total, Seven Up, Forte Oil and Wapco. Capital market analysts attributed Wednesday’s performance largely to gains in Dangote Cement.
They noted that the improvement in market breadth suggests investors are cherry picking stocks which previously witnessed declines, saying, “Hence we expect some more positive performance in subsequent sessions.”
Market breadth improved but still negative, with 19 gainers versus 20 losers. May and Baker recorded the highest price gain of 4.92 per cent, to close at N2.77 per share. Continental Reinsurance followed with a gain of 4..90 per cent to close at N1.50, while Seven Up appreciated by 4.87 per cent to close at N90 per share per share.
Linkage Assurance went up by 4.76 percent to close at 663 kobo while Oando appreciated by 4.42 per cent to close at N5.90 per share. On the other hand, NPF Micro Finance Bank led the losers’ chart by 5.17 per cent, to close at N1.10 per share. Nascon followed a decline of five per cent to close at N12.35, while Neimeth depreciated by 4.69 per cent to close at 61 kobo per share.
Union Bank declined by 4.67 percent, to close at N5.72 and Mansard Insurance shed 4.52 per cent to close at N1.90 per share. The total volume traded depreciated by 21.36 per cent to 137.35 million shares, worth N1.13 billion, and traded in 2,977 deals. Transactions in the shares of Meyer Paints topped the activity chart with 20.01 million shares valued at N14 million.
Access Bank followed with 14.93 million shares worth N144.39 million, while Transcorp traded 12.1 million shares valued at N14.17 million. FCMB Groups traded 11.83 million shares valued at N12 million, while Fidelity Bank sold 7.12 million shares worth N9.38 million