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Dangote Cement leads equities to N36bn gain

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Dangote Cement invests $3bn on plants, grinding terminals in Q2

Nigeria’s most capitalised quoted company-Dangote Cement Plc roused the equities market to a rebound on Thursday with a net capital gain of N36 billion.

Despite the preponderance of decliners to advancers, capital appreciation recorded by Dangote Cement lifted the overall market position to a positive close.

Benchmark indices at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) showed average day-on-day gain of 0.25 per cent, representing net capital gain of N36 billion within the five-hour trading session on Thursday. This nudged the average year-to-date return for Nigerian equities to 6.88 per cent.

The All Share Index (ASI)-the value-based common index that tracks share prices at the Exchange rose from its opening index of 40,772.26 points to close at 40,874.09 points. Aggregate market value of all quoted companies also rose from its opening value of N14.728 trillion to close at N14.764 trillion.

With 24 decliners to 18 advancers, gains recorded by Dangote Cement boosted the overall market position. Dangote Cement, which accounts for more than one-thirds of the total market capitalisation, led the advancers with a gain of N3.50 to close at N252.50.

Read also: IMF says Nigeria’s ratio of debt servicing to revenue too high

Sectoral indices showed the tenuous underlying market situation as most indices closed on the negative. The NSE Insurance Index dropped by 0.8 per cent. The NSE Oil & Gas Index declined by 0.6 per cent. The NSE Consumer Goods Index slipped by 0.3 per cent while the NSE Banking Index dipped by 0.1 per cent. However, the NSE Industrial Goods Index-where Dangote Cement is listed, played the contrarian with a gain of 0.8 per cent.

Meanwhile, the momentum of activities at the stock market improved as turnover volume and value rose by 221.7 per cent and 106.5 per cent respectively. Investors traded 740.52 million shares worth N8.91 billion in 5,554 deals.

Other top advancers included Oando, which rose by 55 kobo to close at N9.60. Eterna rallied 30 kobo gain to close at N6.52. Fidson Healthcare rose by 27 kobo to close at N6.04 while Lafarge Africa appreciated by 20 kobo to close at N45.85 per share.

On the negative side, 11, formerly Mobil Oil Nigeria, led the decliners with a drop of N9 to close at N181. International Breweries and GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria followed with a loss of 95 kobo each to close at N48 and N33.20 respectively. Guaranty Trust Bank declined by 35 kobo to close at N44. FBN Holdings dropped by 25 kobo to close at N12.25 while Nigerian Breweries lost 20 kobo to close at N125.80 per share.

FCMB Group was the most active stock with a turnover of 204.10 million shares valued at N491.98 million. Oando followed with a turnover of 185.49 million shares worth N1.8 billion while Zenith Bank placed third with 70.72 million shares worth N1.91 billion.

“Following the kickoff of first quarter 2018 earnings season, we expect market performance in the near term to be predicated on investors assessment of earnings results. As a result, we maintain our expectation that bargain hunting will continue to buoy market performance,” Afrinvest Securities stated.

Nigeria’s two largest banks-Guaranty Trust Bank and Zenith Bank have released their first quarter 2018 results, showing steady improvements in earnings.

 

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