The Local Bourse extended gains from the previous session as the All Share Index (ASI) marginally rose 2bps to close at 42,158.32 points while YTD return stayed flat at 10.2%.
Accordingly, investors gained N3.6bn as market capitalisation closed at N15.1tn. Today’s positive performance was on the back of a rebound in banking stocks- GUARANTY (+1.6 %), ZENITH (+1.5%) and UBA (+3.3%).
Similarly, activity level strengthened as volume and value traded rose 11.8% and 15.0% to 570.3m units and N5.3bn respectively.
Mixed Sector Performance
Sector performance today was mixed as 2 of 5 indices closed in the green, while 3 trended southwards. The Banking and Insurance indices advanced 1.1% and 0.7% respectively due to gains in GUARANTY (+1.6 %), ZENITH (+1.5%), CONTINSURE (+0.1%) and PRESTIGE (+0.02%). On the flipside, the Oil & Gas index declined the most, shedding 1.2% as investors sold off positions in CONOIL (-9.6%) and MOBIL (-4.5%).
The Consumer and Industrial Goods indices trailed, down 0.9% apiece, dragged by price depreciation in NESTLE (-0.7%), NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-2.7%), WAPCO (-1.8%) and CCNN (-4.3%).
Investor Sentiment Improves
Investor sentiment measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) improved to 0.7x from 0.5x recorded yesterday as 27 stocks advanced against 30 decliners.
The top performing stocks were JAPAUL OIL (+5.7%), CHAMPION (+4.8%) and CONTINSURE (+1.6%) while the worst performers were CONOIL (-9.6%), UNIC (-6.2%) and FIDELITY (-5.7%).
Despite the marginal gain today, the improvement in sentiment shows the market is gradually stabilizing. Thus, we expect performance in subsequent trading sessions to remain positive.
