NSE LIVE! Equities sustain rally with N37b gain

Nigerian equities continued on the upswing on Wednesday as investors appeared to ignore negative national economic data to continue their bargain-hunting.

The twin benchmark indices at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) indicated average day-on-day gain of 0.39 per cent, equivalent to net capital gain of N37 billion.

Turnover also improved above average in the last trading session for August as turnover value rose by 78 per cent to N4.88 billion for 262.61 million shares in 3,302 deals.

The most active stock was Access Bank with a turnover of 39.93 million shares worth N221.6 million. The two-day uptrend helped to moderate the average year-to-date return to -3.64 per cent.

Aggregate market value of all quoted equities rose from opening value of N9.442 trillion to close at N9.479 trillion. The All Share Index (ASI), the main index that tracks prices at the NSE, increased to 27,599.03 points as against opening index of 27,493.12 points.

The overall market position was boosted by gains by highly capitalised stocks. With 20 losers to 16 gainers, the underlying sentiments still remained substantially negative. All key sectoral indices meanwhile followed the overall market position, highlighting the widespread positive sentiments driving the rally.

Read also: Economy: The times are confusing, but we’re focused, Adesoun declares

The NSE Oil & Gas Index appreciated by 2.7 per cent. The NSE Insurance Index rose by 1.1 per cent. The NSE Banking Index returned 0.4 per cent. The NSE Consumer Goods Index appreciated by 0.3 per cent while the NSE Industrial Goods Index inched up by 0.1 per cent.

Seplat Petroleum Development Company led the gainers with a gain of N28.18 to close at N303.18. Seven-Up Bottling Company followed with a gain of N12.01 to close at N140. Presco rallied N3.80 to close at N45.30. Guaranty Trust Bank added 40 kobo to close at N26.50 while Dangote Cement chalked up 39 kobo to close at N175.89 per share.

The positive market situation counteracted the negative macroeconomic data released by the government. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) had earlier on Wednesday announced that the Nigerian economy as measured by the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), contracted by 2.06 per cent in the second quarter of 2016, implying that the Nigerian economy is officially in recession.

The NBS also announced that inflation rate rose from 16.48 per cent for June to 17.01 per cent for July.

“The current positive momentum has been largely dictated by speculative activities. Hence, we advise caution as we expect to see some profit taking in subsequent trading sessions,” Afrinvest Securities cautioned.

On the negative side, Julius Berger Nigeria led the losers with a loss of N4.70 to close at N43.69. Total Nigeria lost N1.92 to close at N240. Custodian and Allied declined by 10 kobo to N3.85 while Airline Services and Logistics and Honeywell Flour Mills lost 7.0 kobo each to close at N2 and N1.33 respectively.

 

 

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