The Nigerian equities market closed higher on Wednesday. Boosted by gains in some heavy weight counters like Dangote Cement, Nigerian Breweries and Nestle, the Nigerian All-Share Index grew 0.93% to settle at 40,992.97 points as against the previous closing points of 40,615.42, ending the two-session losing streak with a rising hope of totally wiping off the losses next session.
Similarly, the market capitalization advanced 0.93% from N14.712trillion it rounded yesterday, to settle at N14.849trillion at the close of trading, Wednesday.
The aggregate volume of trade inched up by 27% from 203.3 billion units of shares traded yesterday, to about 259.4 billion units of shares traded in 4000 deals today, though the number of deals recorded today was 2.2% lesser than the 4,090 deals recorded yesterday. The total value of transactions also declined 1.45% from N4.42 trillion to about N4.36 trillion in the corresponding sessions.
Market breadth
A total number of 15 stocks gained as against the 30 stocks that lost. Market breadth, though still negative but a fairer representation and improvement of general market performance vis-à-vis yesterday’s performance, as the numbers of gaining stocks increased by 3 and the numbers of losing stocks decreased by 2.
Percentage gainers
Cutix led other 14 stocks on the percentage gainers list growing by 5%, followed by Unilever which grew 4.91% and NPF Microfinance also grew 4.86%. Also on the gainers list are high-cap stocks like Dangote Cement which gained 2.67%, Nigerian Breweries which gained 2.32% and Nestle which also grew 1.72%.
Zenith, ETI and Fidelity Banks also made it on the gainers list on Wednesday.
Percentage losers
On the percentage losers list, Skye Bank lost 9.41% to sit at the top, followed by Diamond Bank which lost 9.15% of its share value and Japual Oil also lost 5.71% among others like Union Bank, which lost 5.19%, CCNN lost 5%, Okomu Oil lost 4.97% and the rest.
Though Guaranty Trust Bank still couldn’t make it to the gainers list today but the stock for the third consecutive sessions attract more funds than any other stocks on the floor as another N1.38 billion exchanged hands in 204 deals on about 31.424 million units of Guaranty Bank’s shares on Wednesday. The stock closed flat with an excess bid of over 2000units, we hope to see a positive upturn in the ticker next trading session.
