Nigeria’s equities market closed Wednesday’s trading on a positive note, with a N55 billion increase in market capitalization after the public holiday.
The industrial goods sector and the insurance sector produced strong gains due to bargain hunting by investors.
Specifically, the market capitalization rose by N55 billion or 0.26 per cent to close at N21.526 trillion, up from N21.471 trillion at opening.
Additionally, the All-Share Index gained 105.04 points or 0.26 per cent to close at 41,249.71, versus 41,144.67 on Monday.
The positive performance of the market was driven primarily by the price appreciation of large and medium capitalised stocks including MTN Nigeria Communications, Nigerian Exchange Group, FBN Holdings, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria and Ecobank Transnational Incorporated.
The market closed positive with 21 gainers as against 18 losers.
An analysis of the price movement chart showed that the Nigerian Exchange Group led the gainers’ chart in percentage terms with 10 per cent to close at N21.45 per share.
GlaxoSmithKline Consumer followed with a gain of 6.87 per cent to close at N7, while NPF Microfinance Bank rose by 5.85 per cent to close at N1.81 per share.
Wapic Insurance was up by 4.17 per cent to close at 50k, while FBNH appreciated by 3.83 per cent to close at N12.20 per share.
On the other hand, prestige led the losers’ chart in percentage terms by 8.51 per cent to close at 43kper share.
Academy Press and Consolidated Hallmark Insurance followed with a decline of 8.33 per cent each to close at 33k and 55k per share, respectively.
Cadbury Nigeria declined by 5.88 per cent to close at N8, while Union Bank of Nigeria shed 5.66 per cent to close at N5 per share.
Also, the total volume of trades increased by 47.47 per cent to 499.51 million units valued at N5.08 billion exchanged in 5,998 deals.
This was in contrast with a total of 338.72 million worth N4.06 billion traded in 5,866 deals on Monday.
Transactions in the shares of FBN Holdings (FBNH) topped the activity chart with 147.60 million shares valued at N1.76 billion.
ETranzact International followed with 105.17 million shares worth N215.59 million, while Access Bank traded 27.86 million shares valued at N265.97 million.
Transcorp traded 22.29 million shares valued at N22.78 million, while Guaranty Trust Holding Company transacted 20.59 million shares worth N612.91 million.