By Dipo Olowookere
Gains recorded by counters in the Industrial Goods space rescued the local bourse from finishing on a negative note again on Thursday after a marginal 0.04 percent loss on Wednesday.
Business Post reports that every sectors at the stock market ended in the red zone today with the exception of the Industrial Goods industry, which appreciated by 0.76 percent.
The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) increased on Thursday by 0.25 percent with the year-to-date returns expanding to 6.88 percent.
Specifically, the All-Share Index (ASI) added 101.83 points to close at 40,874.09 points, while the market capitalisation went up by N36.8 billion to end at N14.764 trillion.
However, the market breadth ended negative today with a total of 23 equities declining, while 18 shares managed to record different price appreciations.
These 18 price risers were led by Dangote Cement, which increased by N3.50k to settle at N252.50k per share.
Oando followed with 55k added to its share price to close at N9.60k per share, and Eterna, which increased by 30k to settle at N6.52k per share.
Fidson grew by 27k today to end at N6.4k per share, while Lafarge rose by 20k to settle at N45.85k per share.
At the other side, Mobil Oil Nigeria suffered the heaviest loss after shedding N9 to close at N181 per share.
GlaxoSmithKline went down by 95k to end at N33.20k per share, while International Breweries also declined by 95k to settle at N48 per share.
Furthermore, GTBank fell by 35k to close at N44 per share, while FBN Holdings depreciated by 25k to end at N12.25k per share.
Business Post’s Dipo Olowookere reports that the impressive Q1 2018 results already churned out at the stock market by Zenith Bank, GTBank and others ‘gingered’ investors to buy up some shares today they believe have good prospect to increase their yields very soon, resulting into the 221.73 percent and 106.51 percent rise in the volume and value of trades respectively.
A total of 740.5 million shares were traded on the floor of the NSE on Thursday in 5,554 deals valued at N8.9 billion compared with the 230.2 million units sold on Wednesday in 4,090 deals worth N4.3 billion.
FCMB was investors’ toast at the market today after trading 204.1 million shares valued at N492 million.
It was followed by Oando, which sold 185.5 million equities worth N1.8 billion, and Zenith Bank, which traded 70.7 million shares for N1.9 billion.
GTBank exchanged 70 million equities worth N3.1 billion, while Access Bank sold 41.1 million shares valued at N463.9 million.
The positive sentiment is expected to extend to tomorrow’s trading session as more companies are expected to release their Q1 2018 earnings to cheer investors.
Adedapo Adesanya 
Modupe Gbadeyanka