Investors Gain N84bn As Equities Market Rebounds

Investors gained N84.9 billion at the close of trading on domestic equities market yesterday with the capitalisation rising to N12.4tn while year to date loss moderated to -11.0%.

The All-Share Index (ASI) also rose 77bps to close at 23,892.92 points due to buying interest in Dangote cement (+1.7%), Nestle (+4.0%) and Guaranty Trust bank (+2.6%).

Activity level in the bourse was upbeat as traded volume and value rose 14.8% and 51.2% to 182.7m units and N2.3bn respectively.

The most active stocks by volume were Zenith (27.3m units), GTB (24.6m units) and FBNH (18.8m units) while GTB (N540.7bn), Nestle (N445.2bn) and Zenith (N413.3bn) led the value chart.

Performance across sectors was bullish as 4 of 6 indices under review trended northward while the Oil & Gas index closed flat. The Consumer Goods index led gainers, up 1.5% following bargain hunting in Nestle (+4.0%).

Similarly, the Banking and Industrial Goods indices appreciated 1.4% and 0.3% respectively due to buying interest in GTB (+2.6%), Zenith (+2.0%) and Dangote cement (+1.7%).

Price uptick in MTNN (+0.2%) drove the AFR-ICT index higher by 0.1%. Conversely, the Insurance index was the lone laggard, down 1.9% as a result of sell-offs in Custodian (-9.5%), NEM (-7.4%) and AIICO (-7.5%).

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth fell to 1.3x from the 2.5x recorded in the previous session as 18 stocks gained relative to 14 losers.

The top gainers were FIDSON (+9.6%), NPF micro finance bank (+9.5%) and May & Baker (+5.8%) while Custodian (-9.5%), Unity bank (-8.3%) and AIICO (-7.5%) were top losers.

An analyst at Vetiva capital said: “In the absence of any negative event capable of depressing market sentiment, we expect today’s bullish performance to filter into tomorrow session, though the market remains soft in face of global challenges as well as weak macro-economic environment.”