Chinwendu Obienyi
Bullish trading of listed securities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) yesterday, lifted its market capitlisation to the N12 trillion mark as sustained buying interests by investors in the shares of Dangote Cement, Nestle and Seplat, triggered another robust run.
Consequently, the All Share Index (ASI) rose by 2.14 per cent to 32,462.31 points, while Year-to-Date gain improved to 3.2 per cent. Similarly, market capitalisation or the value of listed equities increased by N254 billion from N11.851 trillion to N12.105 trillion.
Daily Sun analysis revealed that there has been increased inflow into the nation’s bourse by foreign and domestic investors despite the political risks associated with
this week’s election.
Analysts at Afrinvest in an emailed note, said, “We believe concerns for post-election stability are beginning to moderate thus the increased appetite for cheap assets. Hence we expect the market to record gains in the near-term.”
Meanwhile activity level on the NSE also improved as volume and value of stocks traded for the day increased by 5.5 and 42.2 per cent to 580.41 million units and N8.03 billion respectively, exchanged in 7,052 deals.
Across sectors, performance remained bullish with 4 of 5 indices advanced. The Oil and Gas index gained the most, up 4.1 per cent following price appreciation in Oando Plc (+7.27 per cent) while the Consumer Goods and Banking indices trailed, up 4.0 and 1.3 per cent respectively as investors rallied in Nestle (+6.0 per cent) and ETI (+3.23 per cent).
Similarly, the Industrial Goods index advanced, albeit flattish, up 3 basis points due to gains in WAPCO(+4.0 per cent) while the Insurance index pared gains, down 0.2 per cent due to profit taking in AIICO (-5.19 per cent).
Market breadth remained positive as 38 stocks appreciated in value while 14 others depreciated. Dangote Flour topped the gainers’ chart with 10 per cent to close at N8.25 per share, Livestock feeds followed with 10 per cent to close at 0.55 kobo, NPF Microfinance Bank gained 10 per cent to close at N1.65, Jaiz Bank rose by 10 per cent to close at 0.55 kobo while Champion trailed with 9.88 per cent to close at N1.78.
On the flipside, Regal Insurance led the laggards with 8 per cent to close at 0.23 kobo per share. UAC-Prop was next with a decline of 7.85 per cent to close at N1.76, Lasaco dropped 6.06 per cent to close at 0.31 kobo, Unity Bank declined by 5.94 per cent to close at 0.95 kobo while AIICO lost 5.19 per cent to close at 0.73 kobo.