By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Trading on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) closed on a positive note for the second straight day with the major market indicators pointing north.
The stock market had closed yesterday by over two percent, the first time it was doing so in two months in a single day.
Today, the market further closed in the green zone, though not above yesterday’s achievement, but by 0.28 percent.
The All-Share Index and the market capitalisation improved by 71.82 points and N25 billion respectively to finish at 25,818.87 points and N8.934 trillion.
Business Post correspondent reports that at the close of trading activities on Tuesday, the year-to-date return was pruned to -3.93 percent from -4.20 percent recorded the previous day.
The market breadth ended positive today with 23 advancing stocks compared with 12 declining stocks.
On the price movement chart, Mobil gained N15.99k to close at N340 per share, while 7up improved by N1.5k to finish at N95 per share.
Also, Ashaka Cement rose by 92k to end at N9.95k per share; Stanbic IBTC advanced by 82k to close at N22.31k per share and Lafarge grew by 79k to finish at N51.5 0k per share.
At the other end, Nigerian Breweries lost 50k to close at N123 per share and Forte Oil depreciated by 20k to end at N44.80k per share.
Zenith Bank slumped by 19k to finish at N14.61k per share, Champion Breweries fell by 12k to end at N2.35k per share, while UACN weakened by 7k to wrap the day at N14.43k per share.
Business Post correspondent further reports that despite the gain recorded at the market on Tuesday, the volume and value of shares transacted closed lower.
While a total of 127.4 million shares were traded today by investors at N909.3 million in 3,176 deals, 211.8 million shares were exchanged yesterday in 3,054 deals valued at N1.41 billion.