NSE ASI Increases By 0.45% On Sustained Bargain Hunting

By UDO ONYEKA

The Nigerian Stock Market resumed Monday on a positive note as its All Share Index (ASI) increased by 0.45per cent amid sustained bargain hunting activity.

The year to date gain of the NSE ASI hit 30.55 per cent.

Despite the bullish activity, the Exchange printed a higher number of losers (29) than gainers (19) even as three of the five sub-sector gauges closed in negative.

Banking sector was most hit as its index fell by 2.49 per cent; also, the NSE Industrial and the NSE Consumer Goods declined by 0.68 per cent and 0.44 percent respectively.

On the positive side, the NSE Insurance and the NSE Oil/Gas indices rose by 1.63 per cent and 0.01 per cent respectively.

Meanwhile, there was improved liquidity in the equity on Monday as the deals, total volume and value of stocks traded jumped by 32.47 per cent, 118.38 per cent and 47.05 per cent to 5,267 deals, 0.42 billion units and N4.89 billion respectively.