NSE LIVE! Dangote Cement rallies stock market

Dangote Cement Plc upturned what was visibly a down market to sustain the overall market position in the positive. With 30 losers to 16 gainers, the market was heading to a negative close until Dangote Cement made a last-minute gain of 6.27 per cent to push the overall market to a modest gain of 0.73 per cent.

The All Share Index (ASI)-the benchmark index at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), inched up from 27,631.05 points to close at 27,833.89 points. Aggregate market value of all quoted equities also rose from N9.500 trillion to close at N9.570 trillion, a gain of N70 trillion or 0.73 per cent.

The average daily gain of 0.73 helped to moderate the average year-to-date return to -19.69 per cent.
Analysts at Cowry Asset Management noted that the market’s positive overall performance was mainly due to Dangote Cement’s rally as selling sentiments were rampant across the sectors.

Dangote Cement, the market most capitalised stock, rose by N10.10 to close at N171.15 per share. The gain boosted the NSE Industrial Goods Index to a gain of 3.1 per cent. The NSE Oil & Gas Index rose by 0.17 per cent. The NSE Consumer Goods Index however declined by 1.6 per cent. The NSE Insurance Index declined by 0.4 per cent.

Other top gainers yesterday included Guinness Nigeria, which rose by N1.13 to close at N123.15. Presco rallied 30 kobo to close at N32.50. Flour Mills of Nigeria added 20 kobo to close at N19.30. Unilever Nigeria rose by 18 kobo to close at N42 while Portland Paints and Products Nigeria added 16 kobo to close at N3.45 per share.

Read also: NSE Roundup! Equities in increased bargain-hunting

Total turnover stood at 127.82 million shares valued at N2.45 billion in 2,440 deals. United Bank for Africa was the most active stock with a turnover of 18.61 million shares valued at N70.8 million.

“Despite the bullish close of the ASI today, the weakened market breadth suggests that sentiment for equities is still broadly negative. Our short term outlook for the market remains bearish on weaker earnings and policy uncertainties, although we anticipate some level of bargain hunting in the last two weeks of December as portfolio managers close their positions for the year,” analysts at Afrinvest Securities stated.

Analysts however said valuations were still right for investors with a long holding period while technical short term traders will continue to see avalanche of opportunities to record some short term capital gains.

On the downside, Nestle Nigeria topped the losers’ list with a loss of N15 to close at N810. Nigerian Breweries dropped by N3.50 to close at N115.50. UAC of Nigeria declined by N1.28 to close at N24.33. Zenith Bank lost 76 kobo to close at N15.29 while International Breweries dropped by 55 kobo to close at N15.11 per share.

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