BY BAMIDELE FAMOOFO
The domestic stock market index pared early losses to close nearly flat at 51,953.41, up 0.008 percent, as gains in insurance and consumer goods stocks offset declines in banking shares.
Investors at the close of trading sessions on Wednesday picked about N231million from their activities in the market.
Consequently, the year-to-date gain of the local bourse remained unchanged at 1.37 percent as equities struggled to find direction.
Notably, the Exchange printed a higher number of gainers (17) than losers (11).
Specifically, SKY Aviation Plc gained 10 percent to lead the best-performing stocks, while Royal Exchange Assurance Plc shed 10 percent to lead the laggards’ chart.
International Breweries Plc (+7.41%), TRANSCORP (+3.70%), and DANGSUGAR (+1.47%) also closed positive, while Champion Breweries Plc (-9.84%), UBA (-1.17%) and FBNH (-0.90%) closed negative. Performance across subsector gauges was strong, as three of the five indices tracked closed in the green, with the NGX Insurance, NGX Consumer Goods, and NGX Industrial indexes rising by 0.31 percent, 0.19 percent, and 0.01 percent, respectively.
On the flip side, the NGX Banking index moderated by 0.09 percent, while the NGX Oil/Gas index remained unchanged.
Meanwhile, trading activity was subdued, with total trades, volume, and value decreasing by 9.24 percent, 85.19 percent, and 62.68 percent, respectively, to 3,890 deals, 255.16 million units, and N1.79 billion.
In terms of volume, ZENITHBANK emerged as the most actively traded stock, with 11.38 million shares worth N290.04 million changing hands in 341 deals.
