- Safiu Kehinde
The Nigerian stock market has on Wednesday recorded 815.48 million shares transaction valued at N33.3 billion in 52,641 deals.
This represents a decline compared to Tuesday’s trading, which saw 887.68 million shares worth N385.6 billion exchanged across 53,436 transactions.
Despite the poor turnover, transactions on the activity chart was led by Wema Bank with 77.75 million shares worth N2.03 billion.
This was followed by Guaranty Trust Holding Company with 73.7 million shares valued at N8.97 billion while Access Corporation traded 62.9 million shares worth N1.64 billion.
First Holding Company transacted 59.4 million shares valued at N2.9 billion and Zenith Bank sold 49.7 million shares worth N5.2 billion.
The stock market however sustained its positive performance, closing mixed as N600 billion was added to investors’ portfolios while sustained buying interest pushed key indices higher.
The positive performance was due to investors improved interest in stocks like: UPDCredit, International Energy Insurance, RT Briscoe, Mutual Benefits Assurance, Zenith Bank and 17 other equities.
The market capitalisation rose from N129.209 trillion to N129.809 trillion at the close of trading on Wednesday, an increase of N600 billion.
The All-Share Index surged from 201,287.78 to 201,703.55, gaining 0.21 per cent or 415.77 points.
This led the Year-to-Date (YTD) return climbing to 29.62 per cent.
In spite of the uptrend, the market breadth closed negatively with 41 losers and 22 gainers.
Nestlé Nigeria and Omatek led the losers’ chart by 10 per cent each, settling at N3,055.50 and N1.98 per share respectively.
Also, FTN Cocoa Processors shed by 9.97 per cent, closing at N5.33, CHAMS dipped by 9.79 per cent, finishing at N3.96 while May and Baker dropped by 9.74 per cent, ending the session at N34.30 per share.
On the other hand, UPDCredit led the gainers’ chart by 10 per cent, finishing at N7.70, International Energy Insurance followed by 9.91 per cent, settling at N3.55 and RT Briscoe gained by 8.81 per cent, closing at N10.50 per share.
Similarly, Mutual Benefits Assurance rose by 7.58 per cent, ending the session at N4.40 while Zenith Bank soared by 7.52 per cent, closing at N103 per share.