The Nigerian stock market closed the first trading day of the week, yesterday in the green zone as investors remained cautious amid weak market breadth and volume traded.
At the end of the day, the All-Share Index (ASI) gained 84.58 absolute points, representing a growth of 0.34 per cent to close at 25,249.49 points. Similarly, the market capitalisation gained N29 billion, to close at N8.738 trillion.
The upturn was largely boosted by value appreciation recorded in some medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; PZ Industries, National Salt), Nigerian Breweries, Oando and Guinness Nigeria.
Analysts from United Capital noted that, “Despite attractive entry opportunities, sentiment remains week in the equities market as positive triggers continue to be scarce. Political uncertainties around the health of the President and the delay in badly needed economic reforms especially in the FX market are stoking negative sentiments. Although the market appears oversold, any reversal is likely to be short term.”
Market breadth closed negative with 10 gainers and 19 losers. PZ Industries led the gainers table by 9.04 per cent to close at N14.60 per share. Diamond Bank followed with a gain of 4.88 per cent to close at 86 kobo, while Nascon appreciated by 4.55 per cent to close at N7.35 per share.
Also, Nigerian Breweries went up by 4.18 per cent to close at N119.81 and Caverton rose by 3.33 per cent to close at 93 kobo per share.
On the other hand, Forte Oil led the laggards’ table by 5.02 per cent to close at N56.24 per share. UACN trailed with a loss of 4.95 per cent to close at N13.64, while Nahco went down by 4.67 per cent to close at N2.45 per share.
Honeywell Flour declined by 4.55 per cent to close at N1.05, while The Initiates shed by 4.49 per cent to close at 85 kobo per share.
Meanwhile, the total volume traded declined by 77.1 per cent to 110.02 million shares, valued at N985.67 million and traded in 2,160 deals. Transactions in the shares of United Capital topped the activity chart with 16.7 million shares valued at N63.45 million. Zenith Bank followed with 16.1 million shares worth N241.33 million, while Fidelity Bank traded 11.39 million shares valued at N9.3 million.
Staco Insurance traded 10 million shares worth N5 million and International Breweries transacted 7.26 million shares valued at N113.83 million.