By Chinyere Joel-Nwokeoma
Nigerian equities market on Wednesday rebounded with N133 billion after two days of consecutive downward trend.
Specifically, the market capitalisation which opened at N13.342 trillion inched N133 billion or one per cent to close at N13.457 trillion.
Also, the All-Share Index surged 274.57 points or one per cent to close at 27,681.61 against 27,407.04 achieved on Tuesday.
The upturn was impacted by gains recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are Stanbic IBTC Holdings, Guaranty Trust Bank, MTN Nigeria, Ecobank Transnational Inc. (ETI) and Lafarge Africa.
Analysts at Afrinvest Limited said that “ in the absence of any major stimulus, we expect a bearish performance for the rest of the week.
“Nonetheless, we see opportunities for bargain hunting in stocks with sound fundamentals,” they said.
Market breadth closed positive with 24 gainers against 13 losers.
Cutix and ETI recorded the highest price gain of 10 per cent, each to close at N1.54 and N8.80 per share, respectively.
University Press followed with a gain 9.52 per cent to close at N1.15, while Wapic Insurance appreciated by 8.82 per cent to close at 37k.
Associated Bus Company appreciated by 8.33 per cent to close at 39k per share.
On the other hand, Champion Breweries led the losers’ chart by 8.80 per cent, to close at N1.14 per share.
RT Briscoe followed with a loss of 6.90 per cent to close at 27k, while Lasaco Assurance lost 6.67 per cent to close at 28k per share.
AIICO Insurance lost 5.88 per cent to close at 64k, while Courteville Business Solutions shed 4.76 per cent to close at 20k per share.
Also, the volume of shares traded rose by 91.64 per cent to 379.51 million shares worth N5.35 billion achieved in 3,923 deals.
This was in contrast with a turnover of 198.03 million shares valued at N2.89 billion exchanged in 3,830 deals on Tuesday.
Guaranty Trust Bank topped the activity chart with 98.42 million shares worth N2.83 billion.
Access Bank came second with 40.73 million shares worth N314.47 million, while FBN Holdings traded 40.08 million shares valued at N216.63 million.
FCMB Group sold 20.05 million shares worth N33.87 million, while Sterling Bank accounted for 17.58 million shares valued at N38.81 million.
