By Afrinvestor
The equities market closed positive at the end of trade on Thursday as the All Share Index (ASI) added 13.30 points or 0.05 percent to close at 25,510.01 points.
Consequently, market capitalisation advanced N4.6 billion to settle at N8.8 trillion while YTD loss remained at 5.08 percent.
STANBIC (+2.2%), WAPCO (+1.9%) and ZENITH (+1.3%) were the major drivers today. Also, market activity improved as volume and value traded rose 41.0 percent and 82.8 percent to settle at 349.3 million units and N2.3 billion respectively.
Performance across sectors was mixed as two sector indices advanced while three declined. The gainers’ chart was topped by the Industrial Goods index (+0.9%) following gains recorded in WAPCO (+1.9%).
Similarly, the Oil & Gas index improved 0.1% on the back of price appreciation in OANDO (+2.0%).
On the flipside, the Consumer Goods, Insurance and Banking indices slid 0.1% apiece, dragged by losses in NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-0.4%), AIICO (-3.6%) and GUARANTY (-0.7%).
Investor sentiment improved today as market breadth settled at 1.6x (from 1.2x yesterday) after 18 stocks advanced against 11 declining stocks.
The best performing stocks were CILEASING (+8.5%), NASCON (+5.3%) and TRANCORP (+3.9%) while UNIONDICON (-5.0%), AIICO (-3.6%) and FORTE (-1.5%) declined the most.
Next week, the market performance is expected to continue to fluctuate in margins as investors await the release of Q1:2017 earnings reports.
Dipo Olowookere 
Adedapo Adesanya