Following investors’ interest in the shares of Dangote Cement, GT Bank and Diamond Bank, the bearish sentiment which was witnessed on Monday at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), reversed in yesterday’s trading as the All Share Index (ASI) gained 0.67 per cent to settle at 30,822.33 points.
Similarly, market capitalization advanced by N74.9 billion to close at N11.26 trillion while Year-to-Date (YTD) loss moderated to-19.4 per cent.
Performance across sectors was largely mixed albeit more bullish as three of five indices closed in the green.
The Industrial Goods and Oil & Gas indices led the advancers, gaining 1.6 per cent and 1.5 per cent respectively on account of renewed interest in Dangote Cement (+2.2 per cent) and Mobil (+8.6 per cent) while the Banking index trailed, appreciating by 0.5 per cent following gains in GT Bank (+2.8 per cent).
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On the negative end, the Consumer Goods index shed 0.9 per cent on the back of profit taking in Nigerian Breweries (-3.4 per cent) while the Insurance index declined by 0.7 per cent following loss in the share of Continsure (-1.1 per cent). Market breadth was positive as 25 stocks advanced while 14 others tumbled.
Neimeth (+10.0 per cent), CCNN (+9.9 per cent) and Forte Oil (+9.9 per cent) led the best performers while Access Bank (-5.5 per cent), Mutual Benefits (-4.8 per cent) and Nigerian Breweries (-3.4 per cent) were the worst performing stocks.
Activity level improved as average volume and value of stocks traded appreciated by 47.1 and 193.9 per cent to 316.2 million units and N5.1 billion respectively in 3,445 deals.
Analysts at Afrinvest said, “In today’s trading session, the market rebounded in line with our expectations.
Although we maintain a bearish outlook for the equities market, we do not rule out the possibility of persistent buying interest particularly on fundamentally sound stocks in the near term.”
