NSE LIVE! Consumer goods, banks rally equities to N62bn gain

Nigerian equities braced against alluring profit-taking tendency to sustain third consecutive positive trading session on Thursday as string demand for fast moving consumer goods companies (FMCGs) and banking stocks rallied the market to a net capital gain of N62 billion.

Benchmark indices at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) showed a broadly bullish market situation with more than two advancers for every decliner. The market closed the five-hour trading session with average day-on-day gain of 0.64 per cent, equivalent to net capital gain of N62 billion.

Aggregate market value of all quoted equities rose from its opening value of N9.779 trillion to close at N9.841 trillion. The All Share Index (ASI)-the value-based common index that tracks prices of equities at the Exchange, also trended upward from opening index of 28,286.43 points to close at 28,467.61 points.

The sustained capital appreciation nudged the average year-to-date return to 5.93 per cent, equivalent to net capital gain of N584 billion in nearly five months.

Read also: NSE LIVE! Equities rally gathers momentum with N67bn gain

With 30 gainers to 14 losers, most sectoral indices indicated widespread appetite for quoted shars across the sectors. The NSE Banking Index led with a capital gain of 1.7 per cent. The NSE Insurance Index followed with 1.5 per cent. The NSE Consumer Goods Index rose by 0.2 per cent while the NSE Industrial Goods Index closed flat. However, the NSE Oil & Gas Index declined by 1.2 per cent.

The momentum of activities also improved considerably as demand for banking stocks continued to drive turnover. Total turnover on Thursday rose to 418.93 million shares worth N4.96 billion in 3,944 deals. Banking stocks continued to dominate the top activities chart. Access Bank was the most active with 106.4 million shares valued at N798.9 million. Guaranty Trust Bank followed with 51.86 million shares worth N1.74 billion while Diamond Bank placed third with 31.5 million shares valued at N28 million.

Nestle Nigeria, the highest-priced company at the NSE, again led the rally on Thursday with a gain of N20 to close at N870. Guaranty Trust Bank and Stanbic IBTC Holdings followed with a gain of N1 each to close at N33.60 and N26.01 respectively. GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria rose by 80 kobo to close at N16.80. UAC of Nigeria added 65 kobo to close at N14.98. Forte Oil gathered 40 kobo to close at N46.

Transcorp Hotel rose by 25 kobo to close at N5.40. Zenith Bank chalked up 21 kobo to close at N18.22. United Bank for Africa garnered 20 kobo to close at N7.30 while FBN Holdings rose by 19 kobo to close at N4.44 per share.

On the downside, Mobil Oil Nigeria led the losers with a loss of N15.77 to close at N299.63. PZ Cussons Nigeria dropped by N1.15 to close at N17.85. Nigerian Breweries lost N1 to close at N145. CAP dropped by 25 kobo to close at N34.25. Oando declined by 19 kobo to close at N8.36 while Access Bank depreciated by 15 kobo to close at N7.30 per share.

“Considering that market performance has been largely positive this week save for Monday, we do not rule out the possibility of some “end of the week” profit taking in tomorrow (Friday)’s trading session,” Afrinvest Securities stated.

Analysts at SCM Capital Markets remained optimistic despite the tendency for profit-taking. “We expect a positive close at tomorrow(Friday) `s trading session due to the bullish rally witnessed over the last three periods. However, momentum oscillator is indicating that the market is in the overbought condition,” SCM Capital Markets stated.

 

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