The recent positive movement in the Nigerian equities market was sustained today, as the All-Share Index (ASI) appreciated by +0.44% to settle at 98,818.04 points. The performance was on account of late gains recorded in Dangsugar (+9.56%), alongside some banking counters; FBNH (+5.00%), GTCO (+2.63%), UBA (+1.83%), FCMB (+9.63%), Access (+0.88%) and Wema (+5.26%). Consequently, the NGX banking index went up by 2.30% today as investor interests remained strong in the sector. Transcorp (+3.07%), Wapco (+2.10%), Nascon (+9.66%), Intbrew (+9.59%) and Oando (+7.54%) were some other notable gainers.
In contrast, Jaizbank (-6.52%), NB (-1.49%) and Guinness (-0.30%) lost points today but their effects were muted by the numerous gains resulting in a positive market breadth with 30 gainers and 14 losers. Heavy weights; Dangcem, Geregu and Airtel continued to stay on the side-lines with prices unchanged.
Turnover was N4.8bln ($3.3mln), buoyed by fragmented trades in Accesscorp and block trades in Abbey Mortgage. The year-to-date return on the ASI increased again to 32.16%. We anticipate the same trading pattern in the coming session.