The bulls consolidated their hold on the stock market yesterday as investors’ sentiments remained positive. The market has been upbeat since the beginning of the week due to renewed demand by bargain hunters. Many of the investors are taking position ahead of corporate half year financial results announcement. Consequently, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) rose further by 0.80 per cent to close at 33,246.91 yesterday as against a growth of 0.47 per cent recorded the previous day. thursday’s gain boosted the year month-to-date growth to 0.39 per cent and year-to-date growth to 23.71 per cent.
A total of 33 stock added value, while 19 were visited by the bears. Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc led the price gainers with 9.4 per cent, trailed by Forte Oil Plc with 7.0 per cent. Guinness Nigeria Plc, Cadbury Nigeria Plc and Custodian and Allied Plc chalked up 5.0 per cent apiece.
International Breweries Plc garnered 4.9 per cent, just as Cutix Plc, NASCON Allied Industry Plc and Fidson Healthcare Plc appreciated by 4.8 per cent in that order among others.
Conversely, First Aluminium Plc led the price losers with 5.0 per cent, trailed by NCR Nigeria Plc with 4.9 per cent. BOC Gases Plc and Linkage Assurance Plc closed 4.8 per cent and 4.7 per cent lower respectively, while Sterling Bank Plc and Livestock Feeds closed 3.8 per cent and 3.1 per cent weaker in that order.
In terms of trading, investors staked N3.82 billion on 288.85 million shares, up from N2.78 billion the previous day.
The three most traded sectors were: Financial Services (254.93 million shares), Consumer Goods (11.85 million shares), and Conglomerates (5.90 million shares), while three most actively traded stocks were: UBA (114.47 million shares), GTBank (23.92 million shares) and Niger Insurance (17.99 million shares).
A further analysis of the market performance showed that four sectoral indicators closed in green, while one ended negatively.
The NSE Consumer Goods Index was the only loser, shedding 0.01 per cent due to decline in Nigerian Breweries (-0.9 per cent) and Champion Breweries (-7.0 per cent).
The NSE Oil & Gas Index led the gainers, rising by 2.8 per cent on the back of gains by in Mobil Oil and Forte Oil while the NSE Industrial Goods Index trailed closely with a gain of 2.0 per cent. Similarly, the NSE Banking and Insurance Goods indices appreciated by 0.8 per cent and 0.2 per cent respectively.
