Banking stocks gains push equities market higher by 0.1%: Nigeria

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ON Thursday, equities trading activities on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange Limited ended mixed albeit with a bullish tilt as the benchmark index closed 0.05 percent higher to settle at 67,133.19 basis points.

Basically, gains in banking stocks namely, Zenith Bank, Access Holdings and First Bank Holdings kept the market in the green, having appreciated in share value by 1.27 percent, 0.32 percent and 0.62 percent, respectively.

Accordingly, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns printed +1.1 percent and +31.0 percent, respectively.

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Equities investors, therefore, earned N18.43 billion as the market capitalisation rose to N36.88 trillion.

As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive as 22 tickers gained relative to nine losers. On the performance board, ThomasWay and Courtville recorded the most significant gains of the day having appreciated in share value by 9.8 percent and 8.8 percent, respectively, while Cornerstone Insurance and Mansard Insurance topped the losers’ list after their share prices notched 6.1 per cent and 3.6 percent, respectively.

Sectoral performance was a mixed bag with two of the five tracked indexes ending in the green, two remaining relatively flat and one posting losses. The Banking and Consumer goods indexes led the gainers, advancing by 0.94 percent and 0.07 percent, respectively.

In contrast, the Insurance sector faced a decline, plummeting by 1.80 percent, while the Oil and Gas and Industrial Goods indexes held steady compared to the previous session.

Trading activity levels on Thursday were tepid, with a notable decrease in both the total number of deals and trading volume. Total deals saw a 0.87 percent decline, totaling 5,588 trades and trading volume dropped significantly by 24.62 percent, reaching 309.32 million units.

However, the total value of trades for the day increased by 1.99 percent to N4.55 billion, suggesting that even with reduced activity, substantial value-driven transactions occurred in the market.