ASI gains 0.18% as equities shake off 6 day drought

After a seven day in the red zone the equities market on Thursday eventually pulled out and closed on a positive note, with the NSE All-Share-Index gaining 0.18% to settle at 26,221.75 (26,173.69 Wednesday).  YtD returns settled at -8.45%. Bargain hunting on large-cap tickers is primarily ascribed to the marginal gain reported at the close of trades today.

Despite the benchmark index inching higher, both volume and value of transactions declined by 5.80% and 4.32% each against Wednesday figures.

Market breadth at the close of business stood at 0.80x on the back of Sixteen (16) stocks appreciating in value while twenty (20) pared. Market capitalization  closed at 9.026 trillion (9.010 trillion Wednesday)

Analysis by sector shows a decline in all but the NSEBNK10 which advanced +3.08% while NSEOILG5 (-3.71%), NSEFBT10 (-0.47%), NSEINS10 (-0.24%) and NSEIND (-0.003%) declined in that order.

Now for the daily standings on gainers and losers. AIRSERVICE (+4.69%) took pole position amongst the gainers trailed by %), GUARANTY (+4.65%), VITAFOAM (+4.60%), FIDSON (+4.17%) and ZENITHBANK (+3.45%). In the second division, in other words decliners, CADBURY (-9.65%) led the fleet followed by FO (-8.50%), TOTAL (-8.19%), NAHCO (-4.94%) and CAVERTON (-4.55%).