Stocks Rebound As Market Appreciates By N370bn
The Nigerian stock market returned to gains on Wednesday after the Nigerian Stock Exchange equities capitalisation rose by N370bn following renewed interest in large cap stocks.
The All-Share Index rose by 2.4 per cent to settle at 43,330.54 from 42,299.56 basis points while the year-to-date return improved to 13.3 per cent. Buying interest in Dangote Cement Plc, Nigerian Breweries Plc and Nestle Nigeria Plc stimulated market gains as the stocks appreciated respectively by five per cent, 4.5 per cent and three per cent.
Thus, investors’ wealth increased by N370bn as equities capitalisation rose to N15.55tn from N15.18tn.
In the same vein, activity level increased as volume and value traded rose by 30.3 per cent and 22.7 per cent to 571.866 million units and N10.8bn respectively.
FCMB Group Plc, Access Bank Plc and FBN Holdings Plc were the most traded stocks by volume while Nestle, Dangote Cement and Guaranty Trust Bank Plc led the most traded stocks by value.
The industrial goods index led the gainers chart, up by 4.1 per cent due to a rally in Dangote Cement and Lafarge Africa Plc. The consumer goods index followed, rising by 2.4 per cent as Nigerian Breweries and Nestle appreciated respectively by 4.5 per cent and three per cent.
The banking and oil/gas indices also gained, appreciating by 0.8 per cent and 0.2 per cent, respectively, due to price appreciation in Zenith Bank Plc, United Bank for Africa Plc, Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc and Forte Oil Plc by 1.8 per cent, 1.6 per cent, 0.4 per cent and 0.2 per cent, accordingly.
Also, bargain-hunting in NEM Insurance Plc and Continental Reinsurance boosted the insurance index by 0.1 per cent as both stocks gained five per cent and 1.9 per cent, respectively.
Market breadth strengthened as 31 stocks advanced while 23 stocks declined.
The best performing stocks were Cement Company of Northern Nigeria Plc, Japaul Maritime & Oil Plc and NEM Insurance, appreciating by 8.5 per cent, eight per cent and five per cent.
“Current trading pattern is reflective of the fact that investors are increasingly taking position in fundamentally sound dividend paying stocks as earnings begin to trickle in, hence we expect market performance to remain largely positive in the short term,” analysts at Afrinvest said in a post.
