Bullish run continues on Nigerian bourse as indices up by 1.07% Thursday

Trading activities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) remained positive on Thursday making it the fourth straight trading session with a growth of 1.07 per cent, moving the market Year-to-Date performance into positive region.

The market All-Share Index (ASI) gained 332.36 points, and increase of 1.07 per cent to close at 31,477.51 against 31,145.15 on Wednesday even as the market capitalisation grew by N146 billion, to close at N13.864 trillion compared with N13.718 trillion achieved on Wednesday..

The year-to-date performance of the NSE-ASI bounced back into positive territory to stand at 0.15 per cent.

The upturn was significantly impacted by value appreciation recorded in some medium and large capitalised stocks, Nestle Nigeria, Beta Glass, Mobil Nigeria, MTN Nigeria Communications and Dangote Cement.

Analysts at Afrinvest Limited expected the rally in the equities market to persist in the short term, following sustained interest in MTNN shares.

Market breadth remained in the negative region with 14 gainers against 24 decliners.

Law Union and Rock Insurance recorded the highest price gain of 10 per cent, to close at 44k per share.

Japaul Oil & Maritime Services followed with a gain of 9.09 per cent to close at 24k, while Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) appreciated by 7.91 per cent to close at N3.41 per share.

Beta Glass rose by 7.60 per cent to close at N75, while Conoil appreciated by 6.95 per cent to close at N21.55 per share.

On the other hand, Academy Press and Livestock Feeds led the losers’ chart by 10 per cent each, to close at 27 kobo and 54k, respectively, per share.

Courteville Business Solutions and United Capital followed with a decline of 8.70 per cent each, to close at 21k and N2.10, respectively, while Chams depreciated by 8.33 per cent, to close at 33 kobo, per share.

Transactions in the shares of Sovereign Trust Insurance topped the activity chart, accounting for 280.76 million shares worth N64.6 billion.

United Bank for Africa (UBA) followed with an account of 44.42 million shares valued at N256.51 million, while MTN Nigeria Communications traded 34.23 million shares worth N5.24 billion.

Zenith Bank traded 33.49 million shares valued at N630.73 million, while Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp) sold 17.43 million shares worth N19.87 million.

In all, total volume traded appreciated by 90.03 per cent with a turnover 559.76 million shares worth N8.68 billion traded in 6,042 deals.

This was in contrast with 294.57 million shares valued at N17.47 billion in 4,835 deals on Wednesday.