BY BAMIDELE FAMOOFO
Closing another holiday shortened week, the local bourse sustained its winning streak, bringing the All-Share index up 0.49 percent to close at 48,459.65 points, the highest point since 15 September 2008.
Sustained interests in Tier-1 banking names, ZENITHBANK (+4.12%), GTCO (+0.41%), ACCESSCORP (+4.17%), UBA (+1.25%) as well as industrial heavyweight, WAPCO (+9.89%) bolstered the overall market’s strong performance.
Consequently, having gained in all three (3) of four (4) trading sessions this week, the ASI closed 1.89 percent higher w/w, its second consecutive week of gain in the month.
Over the course of the week, the rally in index heavyweights, AIRTELAFRI (+4.73% w/w), DANGCEM (+1.93% w/w), WAPCO (+10.61% w/w), SEPLAT (+4.57% w/w) and some Tier-1 banks, ZENITHBANK (+1.20% w/w), FBNH (+3.02% w/w) and STANBIC (+3.42% w/w) drove the market into the green region. As a result, the year-to-date (YTD) return rose to 13.44%, while the market capitalization gained N485.84billion w/w to close at N26.13trillion.
Analysis of today’s market activities showed trade turnover settled higher relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions advancing by 22.35 percent. A total of 342.14million shares valued at N3.86billion were exchanged in 4,976 deals. FIDELITYBK (+4.65%) led the volume chart with 47.24million units traded, while ZENITHBANK (+4.12%) led the value chart in deals worth N990.33million.
Market breadth closed positive at a 2.00-to-1 ratio with advancing issues outnumbering declining ones. OANDO (+9.94%) topped thirty-five (35) others on the gainer’s log, while ACADEMY (-10.00%) led seventeen (17) others on the laggard’s table.
