Stock Market Inches Up In Daily Trading

The Nigerian Stock Market inched up slightly at the end of trading today, adding only nine basis points. Whilst this did little to reverse the previous day’s losses, it brought the ASI level to 20,521.31.

The banking sector recorded a mix performance today. Top tier banks, Zenith, First and UBA recorded gains of 2.06%, 1.01% and 0.33% respectively, whilst GTBank remained unchanged.

Mid-cap banks Access and Skye also recorded gains, bagging 1.96% an 3.13% respectively.
Fidelity, FCMB, Stanbic, Sterling and Wema were not so fortunate in trading today and lost 57, 453, 368, 79, and 492 points respectively.

Counters remained unchanged across the Brewery sector.

The building materials sector was fueled by marginal gains in stock of Dangote Cement, Ashaka, and Wapco, as the share prices gained 0.01%, 0.07% and 0.26% respectively. Cement Company of Northern Nigeria lost 60 points in the days trading.

PZ and UACN led the conglomerates sector as their stock appreciated 341 and 16 points apiece, whilst Transcorp lost big, shedding 469 points in the days trading.

Honeywell Flour Mills was the only company to record an uptick in the Food and Beverages sector, as it soared 2.2%, even as Dangote Flour and Dangote Sugar lost a combined 689 points.

Bagco gained 57 points today as it released its Q2 earnings that boasted a net income of N 679 Million, up 33% from Q2, 2010.

306 Million shares valued at N 2.6 Billion exchanged hands amongst investors today.