Equities Market Edges Higher, Gains N75.28bn

Samuel Mobolaji

The equities market of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) on Thursday further extended its gaining streak, as the market capitalization appreciated by N75.28 billon to close at N28.44 trillion, compared to N28.37 trillion recorded at the mid-week trading session.

Similarly, the local bourse maintained the positive momentum with the benchmark index up by 0.27 per cent to close at 52,235.88 points, as against 0.95 per cent at 52,097.62 points, posted on Wednesday.

At the close yesterday’s trading session, the buying interest in BUAFOODS (+5.88%), ZENITHBANK (+1.11%) and STANBIC (+0.54%) offset losses in GTCO (-0.40%), WAPCO (-0.83%) and NB (-10.00%).

Accordingly, the market remains on track for its first weekly gain in the month. Consequently, the year-to-date (YTD) return rose to 1.92 per cent.

Analysis of the market activities showed trade turnover settled lower relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions down by 9.52 per cent.

A total of 2.33bn shares valued at N17.62billion were exchanged in 6,958 deals. ACCESSCORP (-3.38%) led the volume and value charts with 1.23bn units traded in deals worth N12.51billion.

Market breadth closed positive at a 1.40-to-1 ratio with advancing issues outnumbering declining ones.

HONYFLOUR (+10.00%) topped twenty (20) others on the leader’s log while NB (-10.00%) topped fourteen (14) others on the laggard’s table