Stock market upbeat with 0.03% growth

Key indices of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) recorded marginal growth on Wednesday, thereby stretching the positive sentiment to four consecutive trading sessions.
The positive out-turn was due to bargain hunters’ buying interest in both the industrial and banking sectors.
Specifically, the All-Share Index inched higher by 9.84 points or 0.03 per cent to close at 38,927.83 from 38,917.99 on Tuesday.
Accordingly, month-to-fate and year-to-date returns stood at 1.0 per cent and 3.3 per cent, respectively.
Also, the market capitalisation rose by N5 billion or 0.03 per cent to close at N20.281 trillion against N20.276 trillion posted on Tuesday.
The positive performance of the market was driven by price appreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks amongst which are; Presco, Cutix, Acess Bank, Vitafoam Nigeria and Lafarge Africa.
Analysts at Afrinvest Ltd. said, “In the next trading session, we expect a positive performance in the market, as investors continue to engage in bargain hunting activities.”
However, the market closed negative with 19 losers as against 16 gainers.
Cutix led the gainers’ chart in percentage terms with 10 per cent to close at N5.50 per share.
Veritas Kapital Assurance followed with a gain 8.70 per cent to close at 25k, while Tripple Gee went up by 7.78 per cent to close at 97k per share.
Presco rose by 3.71 per cent to close at N72.60, while Nigerian Aviation Handling Company gained 2.44 per cent to close at N2.52 per share.
On the other hand, Sovereign Trust Insurance topped the laggards’ chart in percentage terms by 7.14 per cent to close at 26k per share.
Regency Alliance Assurance followed with 6.67 per cent to close at 42k, while Unity Bank lost five per cent to close at 57l per share.
Jaiz Bank lost 4.84 per cent to close at 59k, while Caverton Offshore Support Group shed 4.26 per cent to close at N1.80 per share.
In the same vein, the total volume of trades declined by 10.9 per cent as investors bought and sold 206.29 billion shares valued at N1.07 billion exchanged in 3,435 deals.
This was in contrast with a total of 231.45 million shares worth N2.13 billion transacted in 4,651 deals on Tuesday.
Transactions in the shares of Sterling Bank topped the activity chart with 51.83 million shares valued at N78.77 million.
Transcorp followed with 19.25 million shares worth N18.17 million, while United Bank for Africa traded 17.24 million shares valued at N129.78 million.
Wema Bank traded 11.24 million shares worth N10.01 million, while AIICO Insurance transacted 9.48 million shares worth N8.88 million.