NSE LIVE! Petroleum majors lead equities rally

After two successive negative trading sessions, Nigerian equities rode on the back of gains by major downstream oil companies and other highly capitalised stocks to regain their uptrend. With 23 gainers to 18 losers, the market also showed renewed bargain-hunting for dividend-paying stocks, many of which had declared dividends and were yet to close their books.

News reports that parent companies of the downstream oil majors had agreed to support their fuel importation have fueled demand for the shares of industry leaders, especially Total Nigeria and Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc. Total Nigeria is the Nigerian business of French multinational-Total while Mobil Oil Nigeria is a subsidiary of America’s Mobil Oil.

Nigeria has been experiencing recurring fuel shortage leading to embarrassing long queue at filling stations. The search for immediate solutions by the government appeared to be carving major roles for influential oil majors, which may also take lead in the event of future full deregulation of the sector. This opportunity, though still unpredictable, has increased demand for shares of oil companies with the largest retail distribution networks.

Total Nigeria led the rally with a gain of N7.32 to close at N153.82 while Mobil Oil Nigeria followed with a gain of N5.99 to close at N161.99. Indigenous oil major, Oando Plc, also ranked among the top 10 gainers with a gain of 19 kobo to close at N4.18 per share.

Aggregate market value of all quoted equities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) rose by N55 billion to close at N8.705 trillion as against its opening value of N8.650 trillion. The All Share Index (ASI)-the value-based index that tracks prices of all quoted equities, also improved by 0.64 per cent from 25,145.28 points to close at 25,306.22 points. Average year-to-date return now stands at -11.65 per cent.

Read also : NSE LIVE! Equities slip further with N45b loss

Other top gainers on Thursday included Dangote Cement, which rose by N3.75 to close at N167.80. Julius Berger Nigeria rallied N3.30 to close at N44.80. Seven-Up Bottling Company added N2 to close at N155. International Breweries gathered N1.49 to close at N20.49. UAC of Nigeria rose by 48 kobo to close at N20.48. Vitafoam Nigeria chalked up 25 kobo to close at N5.42 while Nascon Allied Industries gathered 17 kobo to close at N7.25 per share.

The broad rally impacted on many group indices. The NSE Industrial Goods Index rose by 0.3 per cent. The NSE Consumer Goods Index appreciated by 0.4 per cent. The NSE Insurance Index also appreciated by 0.4 per cent. The NSE Oil & Gas Index sustained its rally with a gain of 0.2 per cent. However, the NSE Banking Index dropped by 6.5 per cent.

“We observed renewed positive sentiments as the first quarter of the year comes to a close and investors rebalance and reposition their positions against the new month and the new quarter. We expect the broader index to pare week-to-date loss in the session ahead on bargain hunting as prices remain attractive while sentiment appears to be improving. Nevertheless, we advise investors to stick to value-investing strategy as the earnings season draws to a close,” Afrinvest Securities, a Lagos-based dealer on the NSE, stated in post-trading note.

On the downside, Seplat Petroleum Development Company led the losers with a loss of N10 to close at N300. Lafarge Africa followed with a loss of N2 to close at N77. Okomu Oil Palm declined by N1.57 to close at N29.85. Guinness Nigeria dropped by N1.25 to close at N104.50 while Unilever Nigeria lost 25 kobo to close at N29 per share.

Total turnover stood at 264.04 million shares valued at N1.94 billion in 3,298 deals. The three most active stocks included FCMB Group, 44.38 million shares; Fidelity Bank, 34.84 million shares and Sterling Bank, which recorded turnover of 32.42 million shares.

 

 

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