By Kayode Ogunwale

Trading activities on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) ended the session on a positive note, bringing the All-Share index up by 0.09% to close at 68,143.34 points.

Buying interests in ACCESSCORP (+0.57%), FBNH (+1.65%), and WAPCO (+2.87%) offset selloffs in MTNN (-0.11%), GTCO (-0.38%) and STANBIC (-1.92%) kept the market in the positive terrain. Having gained in three of five trading sessions this week, the ASI closed 0.91% higher week on week.

Over the course of the week, strong performances in BUAFOODS (+2.78% w/w), ZENITHBANK (+7.41% w/w), and GTCO (+2.24% week on week) drove the market’s positive performance outweighing losses in MTNN (-0.07% week on week), DANGCEM (-1.30% week on week), and NESTLE (-2.27% week on week). Consequently, the year-to-date return rose to 32.96%, while the market capitalization gained ₦337.23 billion week on week to close at ₦37.30trn.

Analysis of today’s market activities showed trade turnover settled lower relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions down by 0.42%. A total of 483.49m shares valued at ₦8.34bn were exchanged in 6,660 deals. FCMB (+4.45%) led the volume chart with 116.87m units traded while SEPLAT (+0.00%) led the value chart in deals worth ₦1.83bn.

Market breadth closed positive at a 2.30-to-1 ratio with advancing issues outnumbering declining ones. OANDO (+10.00%) topped twenty-two (22) others on the leader’s table while FIDSON (-4.10%) led nine (9) others on the laggard’s log.