By Bamidele Famoofo
Blue chip stocks, MTN Nigeria PLC and PZ Plc among others led the gainers chart on Tuesday on the Nigerian Exchange Limited, as the All-Share Index (ASI) advanced by 0.40% to settle at 201,287.78 points, bringing the year-to-date return to 29.35%.
In line with the benchmark’s performance, market capitalisation also increased by 0.40%, gaining ₦516 billion to close at ₦129.21 trillion. Investor sentiment remained broadly negative, as market breadth closed at 20 gainers against 49 decliners.
On the gainers’ chart, Multiverse, Intenegins, Chams, MTN, and PZ Plc led the pack, while Npfmcrfbk, Skyavn, Zichis, Mbenefit, and Rtbriscoe recorded the steepest losses.
Sectoral performance was largely positive, although the Banking and Insurance sectors declined by 1.76% and 2.64%, respectively. Meanwhile, the Consumer Goods, Oil & Gas, and Industrial Goods sectors posted gains of 0.24%, 0.08%, and 0.20%, respectively, while the Commodity sector remained flat.
Trading activity strengthened overall, despite a 11.40% decline in the number of deals to 53,436 trades. However, trading volume and transaction value increased
significantly by 49.63% and 38.65%, respectively, to 888 million units and ₦35.56 billion.
