Trading activities of the equities market on the Nigerian Exchange Ltd. closed on an upward trend on Friday, halting the bearish sentiments recorded in two consecutive days.

Specifically, the NGX-AIl-Share Index gained by 0.19 per cent to record 46,631.46 points from 46,543.51 points achieved on Thursday. The gain indicates a Year-to-Date(YtD) increase of 9.17 per cent.

Similarly, the market capitalisation also increased by N47.41 billion or 0.19 per cent to close at N25.139 trillion from N25.092 trillion the previous day.

The upturn was impacted by gains recorded in the financial institutions and telecommunication sector as well as particularly in the stocks of Zenith Bank, GTCO, UCAP and MTN Nigeria.

Analysts at Vetiva Dealing and Brokage said, “Just as expected, we saw investors take advantage of the price dip, hence the green close seen across broad. However, market still trended mostly bearish with a 11.80 per cent reduction in weekly trade volumes.

“We expect to see a slight improvement in these numbers amid further mixed sessions spurred by bargain hunting activities.”

Also, analysts at GTI Research said, “Bearish sentiments dominated trading activities for the week.

“We expect the coming week to continue with this trend as investments in other asset classes prevail.”

The market breadth closed positive as 28 stocks advanced against 16 stocks that declined.

ARDOVA Plc led the gainers’ chart in percentage terms with 9.87 per cent increase to close at N12.80 per share.

Meyer Plc posted 9.71 per cent to close at N1.13 per share while Jaiz Bank appreciated by 7.81 per cent to close at 69k per share.

First City Monument Bank (FCMB) recorded a percentage increase of 7.17 per cent to close at N3.44 per share, while RTBriscoe inched up by 7.14 per cent to close at 60k per share.

Conoil grew by 6.34 per cent to close at N26 per share, while NAHCO gained 6.16 per cent to close at N5 per share.

Conversely, the Royal Exchange led the losers’ chart in percentage terms with a loss of 9.52 per cent to close at 95k per share.

CGW shed 9.26 per cent to close at 98k per share, while Caverton fell by 7.35 per cent to close at N1.26 per share.

Also, Chams and Multiverse dropped by 4.76 per cent and 4.35 per cent to close at 20k and 22k, respectively.

UACN depreciated by 3.81 per cent to close at N10.10 per share, while MayBaker dropped by 2.27 per cent to close at N4.30 per share.

Meanwhile, the total volume of shares traded appreciated by 14.10 per cent with an exchange of 154.12 million shares worth N1.75 billion in 4,515 deals.

This was in contrast with 244.04 million shares valued N2.35 billion exchanged in 4,710 deals on Thursday.

Zenith Bank topped by volume with 11.95 million shares worth N273.99 million; NGX Group sold 10.15 million shares valued at N243.09 million, while GTCO accounted for 9.06 million shares worth N204.95 million.

MTN Nigeria sold 681, 829 million shares valued at N140.2 million, while UCAP transacted N8.44 million shares worth N109.4 million.

(NAN)