Trading upbeat as Market Cap adds N69.6 billion

The stock market began the last week for the year 2016, remaining in positive territory from the previous session as market indices recorded a growth of 0.76 percent.

The Nigerian Stock Exchange All-Share Index (NSE ASI) closed at 26,688.25, up 202.23 from last week’s close at 26,486.02. Market capitalization grew N69.6 billion to close N9.183 trillion from last Friday’s closing figure of N9.113 trillion.

The positive trend sustained for the third consecutive session showed that most sector indices trended northwards except for the Industrial Goods Index that dropped 0.02 percent consequent on profit taking in Wapco that lost 0.12 percent to close at N40.95 per share.

The Consumer Goods Index gained the most, recording a growth of 1.49 percent due to bargain hunting in Nigerian Breweries that added 3.26 percent. Cadbury added 7.98 percent, while International Breweries appreciated 3.12 percent.

The Insurance Index followed with a growth of 1.13 percent on the back of positive sentiments in Axamansard that recorded an appreciation of 4.49 percent.

The Oil & Gas Index also grew by 1.01 percent on account of increases recorded in Mobil that grew by 4.29 percent, and Total that added 1.10 percent.

The Banking index gained 0.70 percent fuelled by price appreciation in Union Bank UBN) that rose 9.79 percent, Stanbic IBTC that added 4.96 percent, and Access Bank that recorded a growth of 4.92 percent.

Overall investor sentiment showed improvement as market breadth strengthened with 30 gainers against 18 losers. UPL led the gainers with 10.03 percent to close at N4.06 per share. UBN followed with a growth of 9.79 percent to close at N5.16 per share, while NEM added 9.09 percent to close at 96 kobo per share. Nigerian Aviation Handling Company of Nigeria added 8.99 percent to close at N2.79 per share while Nascon Allied Industries appreciated 8.48 percent to close at N8.19 per share.

On the flip side, Guinness declined 5.10 percent to lead the losers chart, having closed at N80 per share. ETI dropped 4.96 percent to close at N10.34 per share, Custodian and Allied Insurance fell 4.83 percent to close at N3.74 per share, while Livestock Feeds depreciated 4.76 percent to close at 80 kobo per share and Ekocorp lost 4.75 percent to close at N3.21 per share.

The day’s transactions, executed in 2,257 deals, showed investors moved 131.7 million units of shares, a decline of 5 percent from 139.1 million units of shares, exchanged in the previous session, while value traded dropped 14 percent to N1.2 billion from N1.4 billion.

The most-traded stock of the day was International Breweries with 16.2 million shares valued at N289.2 million. Transcorp followed with 12.4 million shares worth N10.9 million, while FCMB traded 11.7 million shares worth N12.6 million. Access Bank exchanged 10.7 million shares valued at N63.1 million and Zenith Bank emerged the fifth most-traded stock with 7.6 million shares worth N110.8 million