Nigerian equity market sustains uptrend

The Nigerian equity market continued the upward trend on Thursday, appreciating by 1.42 per cent amidst renewed selling pressure.

The move higher in the benchmark index was due to gains in some blue-chip stocks, including Cadbury, Guinness, Nigerian Breweries, MTN Nigeria and International Breweries.

Specifically, the All-Share index gained 709.54 basis points or 1.42 per cent to close at 50,835.95 points compared with 50,126.41 points on Wednesday.

The index’s year-to-date gain increased to 19 per cent.

Furthermore, the market capitalization gained N382.52 billion to close at N27.406 billion against N27.023 billion recorded in the previous trading.

Market breadth closed in the positive as 32 stocks were on the gainers’ chart while another 22 were on the laggards’ chart.

McNichols Plc and Guinness pushed up the gainers’ chart in percentage terms by 10 per cent each to close at 77k and N110 per share.

Nigerian Breweries followed with a 9.95 per cent gain to close at N69.05, while FISON rose 9.93 per cent to close at N9.85 per share.

Conoil also rose 9.92 per cent to close at N28.80 per share.

On the other hand, Transcorp Hotels Plc led the list of losers in percentage terms at 9.09 per cent to close at N4.50 per share.

Multiverse Mining and Exploration Plc followed with 8.7 per cent to close at 21k per share.

Mutual Benefits Assurance and FTN Cocoa lost 7.69 per cent each to close at 24k and 36k respectively.

Oando lost 7.41 per cent to close at N5.25 a share.

Also, the total traded volume decreased by 30.88 per cent from 669.30 million units to 462.60 million units at N8.31 billion and traded in 6,801 deals.

Trading in shares of First City Monument Bank (FCMB) topped the activity chart with 138.52 million shares valued at N485.32 million.

Zenith Bank followed with 29.35 million shares worth N705.04 million, while Transcorp traded 26.39 million shares worth N30.64 million.

Additionally, United Bank for Africa (UBA) sold 20.68 million shares at N166.38 and Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTco) sold 20.31 million shares valued at N478.77 million. (NAN)