Stock market reverses 3 day negative trend
Equities transactions on the Nigerian Stock Exchange reversed the negative run of 3 prior sessions on Wednesday as investors commenced bargain hunting.
The All Share Index (ASI) and market capitalization added 0.81 percent to close at 25,471.69 points and N8.813 trillion respectively, compared to previous session’s 25,266.15 points and N8.742 trillion, thus reducing the year to date losses to -5.22 percent from -6.03 percent recorded previously.
Equities market investors gained N71.1 billion, after exchanging 158.7 million shares for N1.13 billion in 3,048 deals. This is in comparison to N2.4 billion lost on Tuesday when investors traded in 2,917 deals a total of 180.2 million shares valued at N1.6 billion.
23 stocks advanced against 15 stocks that declined by the end of Wednesday’s trading session, an indication of improved market sentiments.
Mobil emerged the day’s highest gainer with an increase of 10.25 percent to close at N347.28, Lafarge Wapco came second on the gainers list with a 10.23 percent increase to close at N47.62 while 7up added 10.22 percent to close at N95.89.
Next on the gainers list was Oando with a share price appreciation of 10.10 percent to close at N5.78 per share, while Union Bank closed the day 5 percent higher at N5.25 per share.
On the flip side Transnationwide Express led the day’s decliners by 8.08 percent to close at 91 kobo per share, Fidson Pharmaceuticals followed with a depreciation of 5 percent to close at 95 kobo per share, PZ Cussons dropped 4.93 percent to close at N13.87, Nigeria Micro Finance Bank shed 4.84 percent to close at N1.18 per share and Eco Transnational (ETI) dropped 4.62 percent to close at N8.05 per share.
Top traded stocks were Fidelity Bank with 49.4 million shares worth N39.1 million, Zenith Bank was next with 24.3 million shares valued at N351.8 million, UBA traded 10.5 million shares amounting to N55.2 million, Guaranty transacted 10.4 million shares valued at N252.9 million and Transcorp traded 7.2 million shares for N5.2 million.
