With N150bn Gain, Stock Market Rebounds
The stock market witnessed a rebound from its two-day losing streak on Thursday.
Gains resurfaced in the equities market as the All Share Index increased by one per cent to settle at 29,352.13 basis points while the year-to-date return improved to 9.4 per cent.
Investors gained N150bn as the market capitalisation of equities increased from N14.99tn on Wednesday to N15.14tn on Thursday.
Analysts at Afrinvest Securities Limited said the positive market performance was on the back of gains in bellwethers, namely Dangote Cement Plc, MTN Nigeria Communications Plc and Guaranty Trust Bank Plc.
Activity level increased as volume and value traded rose by 7.5 per cent and 77 per cent to 387.16 million units and N5.02bn respectively.
The most active stocks by volume were Access Bank Plc (74.6 million units), Zenith Bank Plc (71.8 million units) and Lafarge Africa Plc (40.7 million units) while Zenith Bank (N1.6bn), Access Bank (N770.9m) and Lafarge Africa (N629.9m) led the top traded stocks by value.
Performance across sectors was impressive as only the industrial goods and insurance indices lost, down by 1.5 per cent and 1.2 per cent respectively following sell-offs in Bua Cement Plc, Cutix Plc, AXA Mansard Insurance Plc and Lasaco Assurance Plc.
On the flip side, buying interest in GTB, Zenith Bank and MTN Nigeria buoyed performance in the banking and AFR-ICT indices.
The consumer goods and oil and gas indices advanced by one per cent and 0.2 per cent respectively following gains in Unilever Nigeria Plc, Dangote Sugar Refineries Plc and Oando Plc.
Investor sentiment strengthened as market breadth (advance/decline ratio) rose to 1.4x from the 0.6x recorded on Wednesday.
A total of 23 gainers were recorded compared to 16 decliners.
The top five gainers were Livestock Feeds Plc, Forte Oil Plc, Lafarge Africa, Jaiz Bank Plc and FBN Holdings Plc, which saw respective gains of 10 per cent, 8.4 per cent, 6.3 per cent, 6.3 per cent and 5.7 per cent.
B.O.C. Gases Plc, Caverton Offshore Support Group Plc, Cornerstone Insurance Plc, UACN Plc and BUA Cement were the top five losers for the day as their share prices depreciated by 10 per cent, 10 per cent, 6.9 per cent, 6.5 per cent and 5.3 per cent.
Analysts at Afrinvest said they anticipated a positive performance in the market as investors positioned for gains.
