NSE LIVE! Equities regain rally with N157bn gain

Nigerian equities rebounded on Wednesday as investors stepped up the momentum of bargain-hunting at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

After two rounds of profit-taking on Monday and Tuesday, equities regained the uptrend on Wednesday with a gain of N157 billion, effectively covering the gaps created by the loss of N49 billion in the previous two days.

All indices at the stock market trended upward as investors spread out across the sectors in renewed scramble for bargain stocks. The All Share Index (ASI)-the value-based common index that tracks prices of all quoted equities, rose by 1.4 per cent from its opening index of 33,141.85 points to close at 33,598.20 points.

Aggregate market value of all quoted equities also increased by N157 billion from its opening value of N11.461 trillion to close at N11.618 trillion. The average year-to-date return thus trended upward to 25 per cent.

All sectoral indices also closed in the green. The NSE Banking Index rose by 2.9 per cent. The NSE Insurance Index followed with a gain of 1.5 per cent. The NSE Oil & Gas Index appreciated by 1.3 per cent. The NSE Consumer Goods Index rallied by 1.0 per cent while the NSE Industrial Goods Index rose by 0.8 per cent.

Read also: NSE LIVE! Equities lose N29bn as profit-taking widens

There were 36 advancers against 22 decliners. Seplat Petroleum Development Company led the advancers with a gain of N5.50 to close at N465.51.

Unilever Nigeria followed with a gain of N3.70 to close at N40.70. Okomu Oil Palm rose by N3.18 to close at N66.84. Nigerian Breweries added N2.90 to close at N160. Presco gathered N2.74 to close at N68.89 per share. Guaranty Trust Bank added N1.68 to close at N35.41. Ashaka Cement gathered N1.30 to close at N14.07. Zenith Bank rose by N1.04 to close at N21.89. Stanbic IBTC Holdings rallied by N1.01 to close at N31.01 while Flour Mills of Nigeria appreciated by N1 to close at N28.

On the downside, Seven-Up Bottling Company led the decliners with a loss of N4.20 to close at N90.30. Forte Oil declined by N2 to close at N56. International Breweries dropped by N1.44 to close at N28.56. PZ Cussons Nigeria lost 92 kobo to N22.08. UAC of Nigeria declined by 38 kobo to close at N17.62. Nascon Allied Industries dropped by 28 kobo to close at N9.60. Access Bank declined by 25 kobo to close at N10.11 while Eterna dropped by 12 kobo to close at N3.67 per share.

Turnover rose above average with the exchange of 759 million shares worth N6.3 billion. Investors appeared to focus on low-priced stocks. FBN Holdings was the most active stock with a turnover of 106.36 million shares valued at N727.10 million. Transnational Corporation of Nigeria followed with 99.79 million shares worth N186.99 million while Lasaco Assurance ranked third with 99.75 million shares worth N49.88 million.

“We expect the upbeat performance to persist in the near term as investors’ interest in the equities market remains largely driven by fundamental factors – improvements in the macroeconomic environment as well as administration of foreign exchange market policies,” Afrinvest Securities-a Lagos-based dealer at the Exchange stated.

 

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