Stock market maintains bullish rally with N97bn gain

The Nigerian stock market closed bullish on Thursday, leading to N97 billion gains for investors.

This marked the third consecutive positive rally in the week.

The positive performance was driven by sustained investor’s interest in stocks like UACN, Morison, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, WAPIC, AXA Mansard and 18 others.

Specifically, the market capitalisation, which opened at N92.628 trillion, added 97 billion or 0.10 per cent to close at N92.725 trillion.

The All-Share Index also gained 0.10 per cent or 152.28 points, to settle at 145,476.15, against 145,323.87 recorded on Wednesday.

As a result, the Year-To-Date return increased to 41.34 per cent.

In spite of the overall positive sentiment, market breadth closed negative, with 28 losers and 23 gainers.

Eunisell Interlinked and Ellah Lakes led the losers’ chart by 10 per cent each, settling at N72.90 and N13.14 per share respectively, while Transcorp Hotel lost by 9.95 per cent, finishing at N157.50 per share.

Omatek Ventures dropped by 9.23 per cent, finishing at N1.18 and Guinea Insurance dipped by 8.46 per cent, closing at N1.19 per share.

On the other hand, UACN led the gainers’ chart by 10 per cent, ending the session at N88, Morison followed by 9.94 per cent, settling at N3.54, while Ecobank Transnational Incorporated rose by 8.53 per cent, closing at N36.90 per share.

Also, WAPIC gained by 8.47 per cent, finishing at N2.56 while AXA Mansard grew by 7.75 per cent, closing at N13.90 per share

Analysis of the market activity showed decline in the market value and volume with slight growth in deals.

A total of 1.9 billion shares valued at N19.19 billion were traded across 23,369 transactions, compared to 2.3 billion shares worth N20.97 billion exchanged in 21,513 deals earlier on Wednesday.

For the second consecutive sessions, Etransact closed with the highest volume and value, with 1.58 billion shares traded, valued at N6.37 billion.