NSE LIVE! Equities rally to new high with N212b gain

Nigerian equities market rallied to a six-month high on Thursday as strong inflows from foreign and domestic investors tickled the stock market to a net gain of N212 billion.

With 49 gainers to six losers, the stock market showed overt bullish sentiments as foreign investors, who had been on the sideline due to the regulated foreign exchange policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), scrambled into the nascent bargain-hunting as the apex bank turned round to adopt flexible exchange rate policy.

Aggregate market value of all quoted equities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) jumped to N9.918 trillion from its opening value of N9.706 trillion, representing a gain of N212 billion. The All Share Index (ASI)-a common value-based index that tracks prices of all quoted equities, also spiraled upward to 28,877.47 points as against its opening index of 28,260.61 points, representing average gain of 2.18 per cent.

With the sustained rally, the average year-to-date return, which had been negative, turned positive on Thursday with a modest gain of 0.82 per cent.

Sectoral analysis showed widespread positive sentiments across the sectors. In the consumer goods sector, average gain was above average at 4.5 per cent. In the banking sector, average gain stood at 3.6 per cent. The NSE Oil & Gas Index appreciated by 2.1 per cent. The NSE Insurance Index increased by 1.6 per cent while the NSE Industrial Goods Index inched up by 0.3 per cent.

“We expect the pace of gains recorded in the last two sessions to further moderate as investors fully digest the decision of the MPC to embrace a more flexible exchange rate regime,” Afrinvest Securities stated.

Read also: NSE LIVE! Equities in biggest rally as flexible forex policy kicks in

Turnover at the stock market also improved with the exchange of 651 million shares valued at N5.02 billion in 5,796 deals. The three most active stocks were United Bank for Africa, with a turnover of 101.93 million shares; Fidelity Bank, 75.85 million shares and FBN Holdings, which recorded a turnover of 72.68 million shares.

Nestle Nigeria led the gainers with a gain of N37.50 to close at N787.50. Guinness Nigeria followed with a gain of N10.23 to close at N110.08. Seplat Petroleum Development Company rallied N10 to close at N360. Nigerian Breweries gained N6.69 to close at N140.68. Lafarge Africa gathered N2.16 to close at N83.01. UAC of Nigeria rose by N1.53 to close at N22. Stanbic IBTC Holdings added 84 kobo to close at N17.76. Cadbury Nigeria rose by 80 kobo to close at N16.80 while Ecobank Transnational Incorporated added 70 kobo to close at N16.50.

On the negative side, Seven-Up Bottling Company recorded the highest loss of N2.50 to close at N138.50. Dangote Cement dropped by N1.92 to close at N175.08. Fidson Healthcare slipped by 8.0 kobo to close at N2.12 while AG Leventis and Julius Berger Nigeria lost 5.0 kobo each to close at 95 kobo and N45 respectively.

 

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