NSE LIVE! Equities gain N299b amidst renewed bargain-hunting

In from Success Allantee …

The Nigerian stock market yesterday rode on the back of a strong sense of optimism and increased demand for shares to pull aggregate market capitalisation back to the psychological N10 trillion mark. The market opened yesterday with a visible increase in demand, a situation that triggered a seller-dictated market that left 48 gainers against nine losers.

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) recorded average gain of 3.02 per cent, equivalent to about N299 billion capital gains. The All Share Index (ASI), the value-based index that tracks prices of all quoted equities, rallied to 29,684.84 points as against its opening index of 28,814.62 points. The average year-to-date return was moderated to -14.35 per cent.

Aggregate market value of all quoted equities rallied above the psychological N10 trillion mark to close at N10.208 trillion as against its opening value of N9.909 trillion. The positive market situation was sustained by both gains recorded by highly capitalised stocks and preponderance of advancers to decliners.

Guinness Nigeria led upswing with a gain of N11.98 to close at N138.99. Nestle Nigeria followed with a gain of N11.78 to close at N840. Nigerian Breweries rose by N5.78 to close at N121.49. Lafarge Africa added N2.98 to close at N99.98. Dangote Cement gathered N2.58 to close at N172.47. PZ Cussons Nigeria rose by N2.24 to close at N24.15. Forte Oil chalked up N2.11 to close at N252. Okomu Oil Palm gathered N2 to close at N21.60. UAC of Nigeria rose by N1.67 to close at N35.07 while Guaranty Trust Bank rose by N1.19 to close at N22.92 per share.

Analysts at SCM Capital said they expected the rally to continue in the next trading session citing the attractive prices of several stocks.

“We anticipate another round of sustained rally at tomorrow`s trading session as investors seize the opportunity to take position, following attractive valuations across the counters,” SCM Capital stated.

Analysts at Afrinvest Securities remained cautious, warning that the month-end rally might be due to artificial influence of portfolio adjustments.

“We believe today’s performance was primarily driven by bargain hunting and likely portfolio rebalancing by medium to long term investors. However, given the quantum of gains observed today, we re-iterate our advice that investors with low risk appetite should consider fixed income securities. Nonetheless, we believe equities still present an attractive opportunity to medium to long terms investors,” Afrinvest Securities stated in post-trading review.

Total turnover stood at 510.36 million shares valued at N3.46 billion in 4,769 deals. Multiverse was the most active stock with a turnover of 131.77 million shares valued at N65.88 million in three deals. United Bank for Africa followed with a turnover of 101.18 million shares worth N333.85 million in 381 deals while Zenith Bank recorded a turnover of 44 million shares worth N669 million in 506 deals.

Read also: NSE LIVE! Equities hit low as stocks lose N332b

On the negative side, Julius Berger Nigeria recorded the highest value loss of N1 to close at N42. Caverton Offshore Support Group dropped by 17 kobo to close at N3.25. Computer Warehouse Group lost 14 kobo to close at N2.81. E-Tranzact dropped by 13 kobo to N2.81 per share. Dangote Sugar Refinery and RT Briscoe lost two kobo each to close at N7.24 and 51 kobo respectively while ABC Transport Company, AIICO Insurance and University Press dropped by one kobo each to close at 53 kobo, 80 kobo and N5.17 respectively.

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