NSE LIVE! Equities’ rally hits 4–month high

In from Success Allantee …

The upswing at the Nigerian stock market yesterday gathered momentum as increased demand and obvious scramble for quoted equities pushed the market to its highest daily gain in four months. Average return at the market stood at 3.10 per cent, equivalent to a gain of N324 billion.

All key value-based price indices trended upwardly as the proportion of advancers to decliners improved to more than two gainers to every loser. The gain yesterday helped to narrow the market’s average year-to-date return to -9.39 per cent.

The All Share Index (ASI), the composite value-based index that tracks prices of all quoted equities at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), jumped by 3.10 per cent to close at 31,403.75 points compared with a modest gain of 0.7 per cent recorded the previous trading session to close at 30,458.86 points.

With 36 gainers to 17 losers, aggregate market value of all quoted equities simultaneously rose by N324 billion to close at N10.76 trillion as against N10.43 trillion recorded in the previous trading session.

Most pundits appeared to be more optimistic and less cautious, echoing the general positive sentiments which have buoyed demand for Nigerian equities, which had been severally undervalued by 18-month depreciation. The average year-to-date return for the market remained negative at -9.39 per cent. It had closed 2014 also with negative return of -16.14 per cent.

SCM Capital, a Lagos-based investment firm and member of the NSE, said the rally was spurred by “renewed buying interest displayed by risk tolerant investors for highly capitalized stocks”.

“We expect the bullish resurgence which has permeated the market so far to be sustained at tomorrow`s (Thursday) trading session as investors scrabble for stocks with good upside potential. However, we advise investors to balance their optimism with caution as profit takers may also move in swiftly, which may likely short-live the current positive momentum,” SCM Capital stated in its post-trading review.

Afrinvest Securities, which had maintained a cautious conservative position, said it appeared the market sentiments have generally picked up despite noticeable bearish runs on some stocks.

“We perceive that the current uptrend may be sustained till the end of the week as the market awaits more half-year 2015 earnings results. Nevertheless, we advise investors to remain cautious whilst balancing their optimism by trading in stocks with sound fundamentals and attractive valuations,” Afrinvest Securities stated.

Forte Oil, which plans a capital raising and eyes possible mergers and acquisitions deals, led the 36-stock gainers’ list with a gain of N8.95 to close at N202.95. Dangote Cement, Nigeria’s most capitalised quoted stock, followed with a gain of N8.50 to close at N180.50. Nigerian Breweries, the second most capitalised stock, rallied N6.05 to close at N127.05. Guinness Nigeria added N5,93 to close at N136.93. Seven-Up Bottling Company chalked up N5 to close at N195. Flour Mills of Nigeria gathered N2.98 to close at N32.46. Lafarge Africa gained N1.76 to close at N103 while PZ Cussons Nigeria rose by N1 to close at N30 per share.

Total turnover stood at 336.2 million shares valued at N3.04 billion in 4,243 deals. Continental Reinsurance was the most active stock with a turnover of 51.76 million worth N45.64 million.

On the downside, Northern Nigeria Flour Mills led the contrarian stocks with a drop of 73 kobo to close at N13.99. Berger Paints followed with a loss of 49 kobo to close at N9.50 while Red Star Express declined by 35 kobo to close at N4.60 per share.

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