NSE LIVE! Financial stocks rally equities to marginal gain

Nigeria’s second most capitalised quoted company and most capitalised financial services company–Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank)– led other highly capitalised banks to rally quoted equities to a marginal gain on Wednesday, sustaining a two-day consecutive positive closing at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

While there were still more decliners than advancers, gains recorded by GTBank, Zenith Bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA), FBN Holdings and Access Bank mitigated the underlying sell pressure. Benchmark indices indicated a marginal day-on-day average gain of 0.02 per cent, equivalent to net capital gain of N3 billion. With this, the average year-to-date return inched up to 10.2 per cent.

The All Share Index (ASI)-the common value-based index that tracks share prices at the Exchange, rose marginally from its opening index of 42,148.40 points to close at 42,158.32 points. Aggregate market value of all quoted equities also inched up from its opening value of N15.126 trillion to close at N15.129 trillion.

The NSE Banking Index recorded the highest gain of 1.1 per cent while the NSE Insurance Index rose by 0.7 per cent. Other sectoral indices closed in the red. The NSE Oil & Gas Index declined by 1.2 per cent while the NSE Consumer Goods Index and NSE Industrial Goods Index dipped by 0.9 per cent each.

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GTBank led 20 other advancers with a gain of 75 kobo to close at N48. Nascon Allied Industries and Flour Mills of Nigeria followed with a gain of 55 kobo each to close at N20.55 and N32.55 respectively. Zenith Bank appreciated by 45 kobo to close at N31.50. United Bank for Africa added 40 kobo to close at N12.60. Dangote Flour Mills and FBN Holdings chalked up 30 kobo each to close at N16.30 and N11.15 respectively while Access Bank chalked up 20 kobo to close at N12.70 per share.

The momentum of activities also improved as investors exchanged 570.26 million shares valued at N5.33 billion in 5,794 deals. Custodian Allied was the most active stock with a turnover of 94.45 million shares valued at N377.82 million. FBN Holdings followed with 61.64 million shares valued at N683.26 million while Fidelity Bank placed third with a turnover of 55.93 million shares worth N169.24 million.

On the downside, Nestle Nigeria led 29 other decliners with a loss of N10 to close at N1,370. 11, formerly Mobil Oil Nigeria, followed with a drop of N9 to close at N190. Nigerian Breweries lost N3.50 to close at N124.50. Conoil declined by N3.40 to close at N32.10. Julius Berger Nigeria dipped by N1.35 to close at N25.95. PZ Cussons Nigeria dropped by N1.15 to close at N23 per share while Lafarge Africa lost 95kobo to close at N51.05 per share.

“Despite the marginal gain today (Wednesday), the improvement in sentiment shows the market is gradually stabilising. Thus, we expect performance in subsequent trading sessions to remain positive,” Afrinvest Securities stated.

 

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