Chinwendu Obienyi

Despite analysts’ forecast of susutained sell off pressure onthe Nigerian stock market among bellwethers, volume of transactions, increased by 72 per cent at the close of yesterday’s trading session due to gains in the shares of Seplat, Nestle and Dangote Cement.

This comes as the All Share Index (ASI) also rose by 0.73  per cent to close at 26,609.34 points, leading to a marginal improvement in YTD loss at -15.3 per cent. Furthermore, market capitalisation improved by N93 billon to settle at N12.846 trillion.

Activity level also improved as volume and value traded advanced 72.0 and 136.4 per cent to 382.8 million units and N7.18 billion respectively, exchanged in 3,212 deals.The most actively traded stocks included, Transcorp which sold about 138.90 million shares, valued at N137.29 million, GT Bank sold 48.36 million shares worth N1.40 billion while Access Bank transacted 45.01 million shares valued at N437.57 million.

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Market breadth was positive as 24 stocks appreciated while 12 others depreciated. Eterna topped the gainers’ chart with 10 per cent to close at N3.30, NEM was next with 10 per cent to close at N2.42, Union Diagnostics increased by 10 per cent to close at 0.22 kobo, UAC-Prop garnered 9.78 per cent to close at N1.01 while Wema Bank rose 9.38 per cent to close at 0.70 kobo per share.

On the flipside, Cileasing topped the losers’ chart with 10 per cent to close at N5.40 per share. LearnAfrica followed with 9.60 per cent to close at N1.13, Union Bank of Nigeria fell by 9.56 per cent to close at N6.15, Unity Bank declined to 8.33 per cent to close at 0.66 kobo while Trans Express lost 8 per cent to close at 0.92 kobo.

Reacting to the development, market experts believe that despite the positive performance recorded in yesterday’s trading session, bearish sentiment will resurface as investors’ appetite towards the local bourse remains weak.