Equity market rebounds by 0.24%

The performance indicators of the stock market rebounded by 0.24 per cent on Wednesday.

Specifically, the market capitalisation opened at N56.031 trillion and closed at N56.163 trillion, representing 0.24 per cent or N132 billion gain.

The All-Share Index also strengthened by 0.24 per cent or 233.4 points, to close at 99,284.38 compared to 99,051.02 posted on Tuesday.

As a result, the Year-To-Date (YTD) return rose to 32.78 per cent.

Gains in Zenith Bank, FBN Holdings and Stanbic IBTC, Fidelity Bank, Wema Bank, Nigerian Breweries, Nestle Nigeria, among other advanced equities were the primary drivers of the market index’s recovery.

However, market breadth closed negative with 24 negative equities outnumbering 18 positive ones.

Oando led the losers’ table by 9.86 per cent to close at N12.80, Linkage Assurance followed by 9.41 per cent to settle at 77k, Sovereign Trust lost 8.70 per cent to close at 42k per share.

Veritas Kapital declined by 8.70 per cent to close at 63k and Wapic Insurance dropped 8.50 per cent to settle at 64k per share.

On the other side, Eterna Plc led the gainers’ table by 9.80 per cent to close at N13.45, Red Star Express Plc trailed by 9.76 per cent to close at N3.71 per share.

Stanbic IBTC advanced by 9.62 per cent to close at N57, Fidelity Bank added eight per cent to close at N10.80, while International Breweries rose by 7.84 per cent to close at N3.99 per share.

Analysis of the market activities showed trade turnover settled lower relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions down by 36.49 per cent.

A total of 308.14 million shares valued at N4.86 billion were exchanged in 7,690 deals, compared to 347.39 million shares valued at N7.66 billion exchanged in 8,122 deals recorded in the previous session.

Meanwhile, Fidelity Bank led the activity chart in volume and value with 84.05 million shares worth N883.22 million, Oando followed with 52.52 million shares valued at N710.81 million.

Veritas Kapital sold 19.40 million shares valued at N12.45 million, Unity Bank transacted 11.98 million shares worth N15.38 million and Transnational Corporation traded 11.13 million valued at N117.66 million.

NEWSVERGE reports that in its weekly outlook, Analyst at Cowry Asset, had predicted that bullish trend is expected to persist at the domestic bourse.

They explained that this would be driven by profit-taking and portfolio rebalancing following a new trading month.

“Market pullbacks are anticipated to enhance the index’s upward potential, supported by the ongoing dividend earnings season.

“However, we continue to advise investors to trade on companies’ stocks with sound fundamentals,” the analysts noted.