The Nigerian stock market rose slightly on Wednesday, paring some of the N340bn loss recorded on Tuesday.
The Nigerian Exchange Limited All-Share Index increased by 0.15 per cent to 38,564.7 basis points while the market capitalisation rose to N20.09tn from N20.07tn on Tuesday. The market capitalisation had on Tuesday fell by N340bn from N20.41tn on Friday.
Twenty-eight companies recorded price appreciation at the end of trading on the floor of the NGX, while 22 suffered losses.
Cornerstone Insurance Plc, which led the gainers, saw its share price rise by 10 per cent to N0.55. Other top gainers were Morrison Industries Plc, Learn Africa Plc, Africa Prudential Plc, and Courteville Business Solutions Plc.
Abbey Mortgage Bank Plc, which led the losers, declined by 9.52 per cent to N0.95 per share. It was followed by Consolidated Hallmark Insurance Plc, CWG Plc, Wapic Insurance Plc and Regency Alliance Insurance Company Plc.
A total of 302.72 million shares valued at N2.81bn were traded by investors in 4,387 deals on Wednesday, compared to 297.35 million shares valued at N3.65bn traded in 4,402 deals on Tuesday.
Analysts at Cordros Capital Limited said, “Trading in the domestic equities market was negative for most of the day; however, investors’ interest in MTNN (+1.2 per cent) spurred the first gain of the week.”
They noted that the month-to-date return increased to 0.3 per cent, while the year-to-date loss moderated to 4.2 per cent.
“Sectoral performance was mixed, as the oil and gas (+0.9 per cent) and consumer goods (+0.2 per cent) indices gained, while the insurance (-0.5 per cent) and banking (-0.3 per cent) indices declined. The industrial goods index was flat,” the analysts added.
Punch