NSE REPORT: Equities break into new rally with N93bn gain

Nigerian equities broke into a new rally on Tuesday as bargain-hunters upped demand for quoted shares. With nearly two advancers for every decliner, the overall market situation was largely positive. Benchmark indices at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) indicated average gain of 0.63 per cent, equivalent to net capital gain of N93 billion.

The All Share Index (ASI)-the common value-based index that tracks share prices at the Exchange rose from its opening index of 40,533.37 points to close at 40,788.68 points. Aggregate market value of all quoted equities increased correspondingly from its opening value of N14.641 trillion to close at N14.734 trillion, representing net capital gain of N93 billion. With this, the average year-to-date return for Nigerian equities improved to 6.66 per cent.

All sectoral indices closed positive with the exception of the NSE Insurance Index, which dropped by 0.7 per cent. The NSE Oil & Gas Index appreciated by 2.0 per cent. The NSE Banking Index rose by 1.3 per cent. The NSE Consumer Goods Index inched up by 0.6 per cent while the NSE Industrial Goods Index posted a modest gain of 0.1 per cent.

There were 33 advancers to 18 decliners. Nestle Nigeria-Nigeria’s highest-priced stock led the advancers with a gain of N12.50 to close at N1,422.50. Beta Glass followed with a gain of N3.55 to close at N75.50. GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria rose by N2.65 to close at N34. Julius Berger Nigeria added N1.95 to close at N25.95. Lafarge Africa chalked up N1.60 to close at N46.60 while Unilever Nigeria gathered N1 to close at N55.

The momentum of activities also improved significantly as investors swapped 1.60 billion shares valued at N10.91 billion in 4,729 deals. FCMB Group accounted for about 60 per cent of the total turnover volume as investors staked N2.352 billion on 952.58 million ordinary shares of FCMB Group. United Bank for Africa was the second most active stock with a turnover of 382.47 million shares worth N4.21 billion while Zenith Bank placed third with 65.23 million shares valued at N1.76 billion.

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“In line with our projection, we expect market performance to remain buoyed by increased bargain hunting as investors take advantage of attractive entry prices in the market,” Afrinvest Securities stated.

On the downside, Okomu Oil Palm led the decliners with a drop of N3.15 to close at N73.50. Presco followed with a loss of N1.35 to close at N68.65. Cement Company of Northern Nigeria lost 65 kobo to close at N19.50 per share. Dangote Cement dropped by 50 kobo to close at N249. UAC of Nigeria declined by 30 kobo to close at N17.20 while Fidson Healthcare lost 29 kobo to close at N5.51.

“We maintain a positive outlook for the equities market in the medium to long term, amidst relatively lower prices of value stocks, which make room for bargain hunting,” Cordros Capital stated.

Analysts at SCM Capital also remained positive on the outlook, noting that sentiment is expected to remain upbeat on “continuous bargain hunting as current valuation provides attractive entry opportunity”.

 

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