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NSE LIVE! Equities rebound with N49bn gain as Lafarge Africa lists new shares

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NSE RoundUp! Investors dump Nigerian banking stocks as global equities stutter

After six consecutive negative trading sessions, Nigerian equities staged a recovery on Thursday as investors stepped up bargain-hunting for mid and large-cap equities. Benchmark indices at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) indicated average day-on-day gain of 0.33 per cent, equivalent to net capital gain of N49 billion.

However, the listing of additional shares recently issued by Lafarge Africa under a N131.65 billion rights issue lifted the gain by market value to N196 billion. Lafarge Africa listed additional 3.1 billion shares that arose from its recent rights issue.

Aggregate market value of all quoted equities at the NSE rose from its opening value of N14.844 trillion to close at N15.040 trillion. The All Share Index (ASI)-the common value-based index that tracks share prices at the Exchange, also improved from its opening index of 41,495.43 points to close at 41,633.79 points. The average year-to-date return improved to 8.87 per cent.

All sectoral indices also turned positive, underlining the widespread bargain-hunting that dominated transactions on Thursday. The NSE Insurance Index rose by 1.6 per cent. The NSE Oil & Gas Index followed with a gain of 0.6 per cent. The NSE Banking Index and NSE Industrial Goods Index appreciated by 0.5 per cent each while the NSE Consumer Goods Index rose by 0.4 per cent.

There were 29 advancers against 28 decliners. Mobil Oil Nigeria led the rally with a gain of N7.70 to close at N184. GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria followed with a gain of N2.25 to close at N24.30. Nigerian Breweries rose by N1.90 to close at N127.90. PZ Cussons Nigeria and Cadbury Nigeria added 60 kobo each to close at N23 and N13.25 while Zenith Bank rose by 50 kobo to close at N28.80 per share.

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The momentum of activities also improved with the exchange of 542.35 million shares valued at N7.35 billion in 5,039 deals. Access Bank was the most active with a turnover of 126.01 million shares worth N1.4 billion. Zenith Bank followed with a turnover of 67.27 million shares worth N1.92 billion while Guaranty Trust Bank placed third with 51.84 million shares worth N2.34 billion.

On the downside, Access Bank led the decliners with a drop of 65 kobo to close at N11.10. Dangote Sugar Refinery declined by 30 kobo to close at N20.50. Africa Prudential dropped by 20 kobo to close at N4.12. Honeywell Flour Mills dipped by 12 kobo to close at N2.38 while C & I Leasing slipped by 10 kobo to close at N1.90 per share.

“In line with our expectation, the market rebounded today (Thursday); we expect this positive performance to be sustained in subsequent trading sessions barring any negative earnings surprise,” Afrinvest Securities stated.

“Our outlook for the equities market remains positive, as strengthening macroeconomic fundamentals suggest legroom for gains exist; more so, as investors are likely to hunt bargains, following the softening of stocks prices,” Cordros Capital stated.

 

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