Investors gain N8.2bn as NSE closes in green after two-day loss

Investors on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) got a N8.2 billion respite on Wednesday after suffering losses on Monday and Tuesday.

Year-to-date (YTD) and month-to-date (MTD) losses moderated to -10.1 percent and -1.4 percent respectively.

The activity level strengthened as average volume and value traded rose to 208.2 million units and ₦1.8 billion respectively.

The upturn was impacted by gains recorded in large and medium capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Airtel Africa, Dangote Sugar, Guaranty Trust Bank, Cutix and Access Bank.

A breakdown of the price movement chart indicated that Sunu Assurances dominated the gainers’ chart in percentage terms, appreciating by 10 percent, to close at 22k, per share.

Cutix followed with 7.69 percent to close at N1.82, while Dangote Sugar improved by 5.17 percent to close at N12.20 per share.

Mutual Benefits Assurance rose by 4.76 percent to close at 22k, while Airtel Africa appreciated by 3.44 percent to close at N340 per share.

Conversely, Julius Berger led the losers’ chart in percentage terms, losing 9.88 percent, to close at N15.50 per share.

Nigerian Breweries followed with a decline of 9.84 percent to close at N30.70, while Linkage Assurance lost 9.80 percent to close at 46k per share.

Wapic Insurance dipped 9.09 percent to close at 30k, while Caverton shed 6.15 per cent each to close at N1.83 per share.

Performance across the top five NSE sectors was mixed as two out of five indices advanced, two declined while the oil and gas index remained flat.

The banking index rose by 0.89 percent; industrial index at 0.01 percent; and oil and gas index was flat at 0.00 percent.

While the insurance and consumer goods indices dropped by 0.89 percent and 1.39 percent respectively.

The market traded in 3,648 deals against Tuesday which transacted in 4,174 deals.

The top traded stocks by volume were Sterling Bank (77.2 million units), UBA (19.8 million units) and Zenith Bank (16 million units).