By Samuel Bankole
Nigeria’s local bourse closed the week on a positive note, with the market main index rallying by 0.09 percent on the back of buying interest in Access Corporation, FBNH, and Lafarge Africa.
The shares in Access Corporation rose 0.57 percent, First Bank Holding Company (FBNH gained 1.65 percent, and cement maker Lafarge Africa ticked up 2.87 percent.
The gains in the banking giants and cement maker offset sell-offs in the local unit of South Africa’s telecom firm: MTN Nigeria, which fell 0.11 percent; Guaranty Trust Bank Holding Company, GTCO, which was down by 0.38 percent; and Stanbic IBTC, which closed down by 1.92 percent.
Consequently, the All-Share index (ASI) rose by 0.09 percent to close at 68,143.34 points, compared with 68,082.11 points the previous trading day.
Having gained in three (3) of five (5) trading sessions this week, the ASI closed 0.91 percent higher week-on-week.
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During the week, strong performances in BUA Foods (which gained 2.78 percent w/w), Zenith Bank (which was up 7.41 percent w/w), and GTCO (which gained 2.24 percent w/w) drove the market’s positive performance, which outweighed losses in MTN Nigeria (0.07 percent w/w), Dangote Cement (down 1.30 percent w/w), and Nestle (which gained 2.27 percent w/w).
Consequently, the year-to-date (YTD) return rose to 32.96 percent, while the market capitalization gained N337.23 billion w/w to close at N37.30 trillion.
Analysis of today’s market activities showed trade turnover settled lower relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions down by 0.42 percent.
A total of 483.49 million shares valued at N8.34 billion were exchanged in 6,660 deals. FCMB (+4.45 percent) led the volume chart with 116.87 million units traded, while Seplat (+0.00 percent) led the value chart with deals worth N1.83 billion.
Market breadth closed positive at a 2.30-to-1 ratio, with advancing issues outnumbering declining ones.
Oando (+10.00 percent) topped twenty-two (22) others on the leader’s table, while FIDSON (-4.10 percent) led nine (9) others on the laggard’s log.
(Edited by Oludare Mayowa; omayowa@globalfinancialdigest.com; Newsroom: +234 8033 964 138)
