NSE LIVE! Equities sustain modest recovery

In from Success Allantee …

Nigerian equities continued its cautious upward trend yesterday as a mix of bargain-hunting and cautious trades continued to moderate the overall market situation. The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) recorded average day-on-day return of 0.17 per cent yesterday as against 0.16 per cent gained in the previous trading session.

Several investors have been hunting for low-priced value stocks to take early positions in anticipation of a stronger macroeconomic performance and stock market recovery after the formation of the cabinet of President Muhammadu Buhari. President Buhari has repeatedly assured that he would announce the list of ministers or before the end of this month.

However, many investors, especially foreign investors that account for large part of market transactions have remained cautious, citing lack of clarity on macroeconomic direction and foreign exchange management. The balance of bargain-hunting and cautious trades has helped to modulate the ups and downs in the market.

There were 23 gainers yesterday against 19 losers and most stocks either gained or lost single digit. The banking sector, where several stocks have been trading below intrinsic values, saw substantial bargain-hunting, which left the sector with average gain of 0.6 per cent.

The All Share Index (ASI)-the value-based common index that tracks prices of all quoted equities, inched up by 0.17 per cent from its opening index of 30,359.47 points to close at 30,410.39 points. Aggregate market value of all quoted equities also rose by N17 billion or 0.17 per cent to close at N10.451 trillion as against its opening value of N10.434 trillion.

Analysts at Cowry Asset Management Limited said the modest market performance was due to bargain-hunting.

“Today’s performance was primarily driven by increased sentiment for value stocks most especially in banking space. We believe this may be anchored on developments in the global and local economy amid expectation for the announcement of cabinet members soon,” Afrinvest Securities, a Lagos-based investment firm, stated.

Julius Berger Nigeria led the advancers with a gain of N2.08 to close at N44.08 per share. Beta Glass rose by N1.85 to close at N42.70. UAC of Nigeria gathered N1.50 to close at N33. Okomu Oil Palm rose by N1.35 to close at N28.47. Total Nigeria chalked up 80 kobo to close at N150.80. Nigerian Breweries rose by 52 kobo to close at N134.52 while Zenith Bank added 40 kobo to close at N18.15 per share.

Total turnover stood at 211.89 million shares valued at N2.73 billion in 3,054 deals. Custodian and Allied was the most active stock with a turnover of 41.67 million shares worth N158.4 million in 10 deals. It was followed by Access Bank which recorded a turnover of 32.64 million shares worth N164.9 million in 182 deals.

On the negative side, Lafarge Africa led the decliners with a drop of N1 to close at N98. Guinness Nigeria dropped by 63 kobo to close at N154.60. Champion Breweries lost 20 kobo to close at N4.45 while Fidson Healthcare declined by 16 kobo to close at N3.19 per share.

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