The Nigerian stock market closed the transaction for the second trading day in August on a positive note, as price appreciation in MTN Nigeria, Airtel Africa and 10 others drive investors gain by N163.22 billion.

Bargain hunters buying interest, particularly in the telecommunication sector majorly led to the positive performance in yesterday’s trading period.

In summary, overall market capitalisation value grew by N163.22 billion or 0.81 per cent to close at N20.277 trillion from N20.114 trillion the stock market opened for trading.

Consequently, the Nigerian Exchange Limited All-Share Index (ASI) grew by 313.27 basis points or 0.81 per cent to close at 38,917.99 basis points from 38,604.72 basis points it closed yesterday.

The stock market gain on yesterday pushed Its Year-to-Date (YTD) returns currently stands at -3.36per cent.

However, investor sentiment as measured by market breadth was negative, as 26 stocks declined while 11 gained.

FTN Cocoa led the losers’ chart by 8.16 per cent to close at N0.45, per share. Honeywell Flour followed with a decline of 7.78 per cent to close at N1.54 from N1.67, while Mutual Benefits Plc lost 5.13 per cent to close at N0.37 from N0.39 kobo, per share.

Transcorp Plc lost 5.10 per cent to close at N0.93, while Neimeth shed 5.06 per cent to close at N1.50 from N1.58, per share it opened for trading yesterday.

On the other hand, Wema Bank appreciated by 5.95 per cent to close at N0.89 from N0.84, per share. UPDC followed with a gain of 5.93 per cent to close at N1.25 from N1.18, while Airtel Africa went up by 5.69 per cent to close at N650 kobo, per share.

Courtville Solution rose by 4.17 per cent to close at N0.25kobo, while Cutix gained 3.95 per cent to close at N5.00 kobo, per share.

Market turnover closes negative as volume moved down by -5.25per cent as against -36.90per cent decline recorded in the previous session. Transcorp, Jaiz Bank and Honey Well Flour were the most active to boost market turnover. MTN Nigeria and Zenith Bank topped market value list.

Cadbury Nigeria leads the list of active stocks that recorded impressive volume spike at the end of today’s session.

This week, analysts at United Capital Plc expected investors to react to the late flurry of results that came into the market last week.

“That said, we expect to see a tight trading week as investors continue to take profits of the table while others consider decent entry prices into large cap banking stocks yet to publish their H2, 2021 scorecards,” they explained.