NSE LIVE! Equities close flat amidst bargain-hunting

Nigerian equities closed almost flat on Thursday after losses by highly capitalised stocks counterbalanced widespread bargain-hunting.

With 20 advancers to 14 decliners, the market showed growing underlying bargain-hunting but losses recorded by large-cap oil and gas and banking stocks weighed against the rallying stocks.

Aggregate market capitalisation of all quoted equities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) remained almost unchanged at N8.827 trillion while the All Share Index (ASI) was almost flat at 25,514.03 as against 25,514.09 points posted on Wednesday. The average year-to-date return remained unchanged at -5.06 per cent.

Read also: NSE LIVE! Equities remain down as selloff persists

Sectoral indices underlined the widespread gains at the stock market as more companies release their latest earnings reports showing steady performance. The NSE Industrial Goods Index rose by 3.4 per cent. The NSE Consumer Goods Index inched up by 0.2 per cent while the NSE Insurance Index rallied 0.08 per cent. However, the NSE Oil & Gas Index declined by 3.6 per cent while the NSE Banking Index slipped by 0.04 per cent.

Volume of activities also tightened as investors held on cautiously waiting the balance of the pricing trend. Total turnover stood at 115.11 million shares valued at N1.42 billion in 2,861 deals. Banking stocks remained the most active stocks. Guaranty Trust Bank led the activities chart with a turnover of 20.54 million shares valued at N548.38 million. Access Bank followed with 14.8 million shares worth N88.77 million while United Bank for Africa placed third with 9.48 million shares worth N50.65 million.

Nestle Nigeria led the gainers with a gain of N9 to close at N749. Lafarge Africa followed with a gain of N3.20 to close at N41. Seven-Up Bottling Company rose by N2.29 to close at N80. Guaranty Trust Bank and International Breweries chalked up 30 kobo each to close at N26.80 and N15.30 respectively while Oando added 18 kobo to close at N5.20.

On the negative side, Seplat Petroleum Development Company led the losers with a loss of N38.72 to close at N359.28. Guinness Nigeria followed with a loss of N2.64 to close at N60. Forte Oil declined by 82 kobo to close at N45.59. Access Bank lost 22 kobo to close at N5.93. Nascon Allied Industries declined by 21 kobo to N6.91 while Zenith Bank dropped by 20 kobo to close at N13.60 per share.

“Despite the flattish performance of the broader index, the market breadth suggests sentiment is positive following two consecutive days of losses. We expect the benchmark index to close positive in the final trading session for the week,” Afrinvest Securities, a Lagos-based dealer at the NSE, stated.

 

 

 

 

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