The NSE All-Share Index started out the week on a positive note as a 2.11% single-day uptick drove the benchmark index to a seven-month high of 27,554.56 points. YTD returns rose further to 2.65% as market capitalization settled at N14.40 trillion. Market performance was largely driven by the bullish sentiment from local institutional investors with a strong interest in ZENITHBA NL which returned +5.26% to close at N19.00.
The same scenario played out in ACCESS NL, FBNH NL and UBA NL as they gained 5.97%, 6.73% and 3.20% to close at N7.10, N5.25 and N6.45, respectively. GUARANTY NL also rose on offshore bids as the ticker saw an upswing of 2.41% to close at N29.70. We also took note of sustained optimism in telco tickers – MTN NL (+3.85% to N135.00) and AIRTELAFRI NL (+5.32% to N400.20).
Volume and value traded were 31.31% and 31.08% higher to 603.93 million units and N7.42 billion, respectively. The most traded stocks by volume were ZENITHBA NL (204.68 million units), STERLNBANK NL (55.22 million units) and UBA NL (51.29 million units) while ZENITHBA NL (N3.83 billion), GUARANTY NL (N1.07 billion) and ZENITH NL (N328.84 million) topped the value chart.
All sub-indices closed in positive territory (Banking, Consumer Goods, Industrial, Oil & Gas, and Insurance sub-indices by 337bps, 38bps, 38bps, 84bps, and 204bps respectively)
Market sentiment was positive as market breadth came in at 3.6x as there were 36 advancers and 10 decliners.