NSE LIVE! Investors stake N15.8b as equities gain N97b

In from Success Allantee…

Investors staked about N16 billion on quoted equities yesterday as the equities market reopened with sustained price rally. As bargain-hunters continued to seek out undervalued stocks, the buyer’s market of the previous week appeared to have turned into a seller’s market with most equities closing on the upside.

The All Share Index (ASI), the value-based common index that tracks prices of all quoted stocks on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), rose by 0.92 per cent to close higher at 31,332.39 points as against its opening index of 31,047.99 points. Aggregate market value of all quoted companies rose from its opening value of N10.628 trillion to close at N10.725 trillion, representing an increase of N97 billion or 0.92 per cent.

The uptrend yesterday moderated the negative average year-to-date return at the stock market to -9.59 per cent. With 28 gainers to 20 losers , all major indices at the NSE showed generally positive sentiments with substantial increase in turnover volume and value and aggregate market value of all quoted equities.

The rally saw significant increase in turnover with 375 per cent and 456 per cent per cent increase in turnover volume and value respectively. Total turnover stood at 1.06 billion shares valued at N15.78 billion in 3,475 deals as against a total of 222.22 million shares worth N2.84 billion in 3696 deals traded in the previous trading session.

The market turnover was driven mainly by large-volume transactions in Zenith Bank Plc, which recorded a turnover of 729.10 million shares valued at N13.01 billion in 263 deals. Access Bank occupied a distant second position on the activity chart with a turnover of 65.63 million shares valued at N341.6 million in 169 deals.

Analysts remained cautiously optimistic about the outlook of the market. “Given, the positive close today, we expect the same momentum to continue tomorrow,” SCM Capital stated in post-trading comment.

Analysts at Afrinvest Securities investors should continue to adopt a medium to long term horizon in making investment decisions in the present market rather than trading on the momentary rally.

“The two-day rally in the market has been mainly driven by bargain hunting positioning ahead of earnings releases by quoted companies. However, we remain cautiously optimistic about market performance as earnings projections remain weak due to the weak macroeconomic conditions constituting operational difficulty for most companies,” Afrinvest Securities stated yesterday.

Read also: NSE LIVE! Investors make N233bn in first half 2015

The overall market situation was boosted by gains recorded by some highly capitalised stocks. Nestle Nigeria, the highest-priced stock at the stock market, led the gainers with a gain of N16.93 to close at N856.93. Mobil Oil Nigeria followed with a gain of N5 to close at N155. Total Nigeria rose by N4.05 to close at N164.95. Dangote Cement, the most capitalised stock at the NSE, added N2.46 to close at N170.46. Seven-Up Bottling Company rose by N2.15 to close at N183.15. Forte Oil gained N1.90 to close at N190. Beta Glass gathered N1.71 to close at N35.91. Nigerian Breweries, the second most capitalised stock, chalked up N1.40 to close at N129.60. Oando rose by N1.29 to close at N13.89 while Ashaka Cement gathered by 87 kobo to close at N21.92 per share.

On the negative side, Cement Company of Northern Nigeria (CCNN) recorded the highest loss of 82 kobo to close at N9.60. Guaranty Trust Bank followed with a loss of 50 kobo to close at N25.50. Berger Paints lost 49 kobo to close at N9.36. Stanbic IBTC Holdings dropped by 30 kobo to close at N23.65 while International Breweries declined by 25 kobo to close at N18.74 per share.

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