The Nigerian stock market inched up on Wednesday as the All-Share Index advanced by 0.15 per cent to close at 38,564.70 points on a renewed positive sentiment.
The market capitalisation also rose to close at N20.099tn, leaving investors with a gain of N29.9bn.
The year-to-date loss of the ASI fell to -4.23 per cent even as 27 companies’ stocks declined against 21 stocks that appreciated.
Bellwether stocks such as Seplat Petroleum Development Company, MTN Nigeria Communications, United Bank for Africa and Zenith Bank enjoyed investor’s patronage as their share prices increased by 1.45 per cent, 1.23 per cent, 2.11 per cent and 0.21 per cent respectively.
Sectoral performance didn’t mirror overall market performance as most of the indices tracked closed in the red.
The banking, insurance and industrial indices fell by 0.32 per cent, 0.51 per cent and 0.03 per cent, while the consumer goods and oil and gas indices fell by 0.18 per cent and 0.92 per cent respectively.
Trading activity was weak as total deals and value of stock traded fell, however the total volume of stocks rose by 1.81 per cent to 302.72 million units, valued at N2.81bn in 4,387 deals.
