Business
Equities recover amidst renewed bargain-hunting
Nigerian quoted equities showed signs of recovery at the Tuesday trading session at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
Widespread buying sentiments narrowed down the supply gap and cut the trend of steep losses recorded in the past 11 trading sessions. However, losses by several large-cap stocks still overwhelmed the overall market position.
As against the previous worsening market situation with more than six losers to a gainer, the price changes on Tuesday were almost one on one between the decliners and the advancers. There were 24 advancers to 27 decliners.
The All Share Index (ASI), the value-based common index that tracks prices of all quoted equities at the NSE, declined marginally by 0.42 per cent on Tuesday compared with a drop of 4.10 per cent on Monday. This implied a loss of N33 billion as against N331 billion lost on Monday. The ASI closed on Tuesday at 22,456.32 points as against its opening value of 22.550.83 points.
Aggregate market value of all quoted equities also dropped by the same margin to close at N7.723 trillion as against its opening value of N7.756 trillion. Average year to date return so far this year remained negative at -21.60 per cent.
Read also: NSE Roundup! Equities lose N1.2tr in 5 days as panic grips investors
“The improvement in market performance indicates that investors have started taking bargain hunting positions and the market might be close to the expected bottom,” Afrinvest Securities, a Lagos-based dealer on the NSE, stated.
Sectoral analysis also underscored wide positive sentiments with three sectoral indices closing on the upside while two closed on the downside. The NSE Insurance Index appreciated by 0.3 per cent. The NSE Industrial Goods Index improved by 0.8 per cent. The NSE Banking Index inched up by 0.5 per cent. However, the NSE Consumer Goods Index dropped by 2.3 per cent while the NSE Oil & Gas Index lost 1.7 per cent.
Lafarge Africa led the gainers with a gain of N1.70 to close at N80. International Breweries followed with a gain of N1.40 to close at N16.30. GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria rallied N1.26 to close at N27. UAC of Nigeria rose by 82 kobo to close at N17.22. Nigerian Breweries added 65 kobo to close at N94.65. Zenith Bank gathered 55 kobo to close at N9.55. Stanbic IBTC Holdings rose by 52 kobo to close at N12.75. Nascon Allied Industry rose by 28 kobo to N6.08 while Guaranty Trust Bank added 22 kobo to close at N13.75 per share.
On the other hand, Nestle Nigeria, Nigeria’s highest-priced stock, remained atop the losers’ list with a loss of N27.95 to close at N675.10. Guinness Nigeria followed with a loss of N9.89 to close at N93. Seplat Petroleum Development Company declined by N8.40 to close at N159.72. Mobil Oil Nigeria lost N7.25 to close at N137.75 per share. Seven Up Bottling Company declined by N4.25 to close at N162. Okomu Oil Palm dropped by N3.02 to close at N27.99. Unilever Nigeria lost N2.16 to close at N41.09. Flour Mills of Nigeria declined by 93 kobo to close at N17.85. Ecobank Transnational Incorporated lost 76 kobo to close at N14.59. Cadbury Nigeria dropped by 64 kobo to N12 while CAP declined by 59 kobo to close at N37 per share.
Total turnover was above recent average with the exchange of 256.44 million shares worth N1.97 billion in 4,736 deals.
“Nevertheless, we may still be far off from a significant rebound as sentiment still remains negative and macroeconomic risks continue to clog the horizon. Whilst we consider the current prices attractive, we continue to advise clients with a short investment horizon to stay cautious,” Afrinvest Securities stated.
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