Investors’ fortune increased by N144.5 billion at the end of trading today as equity market halts downward trend.
Gains in NESTLE (+10.0%), SEPLAT (+10.0%) and ACCESS (+6.9%), drove the benchmark index into the positive territory.
The All Share Index surged 109 bps to settle at 27,579.85 points while year to date (YTD) loss eased to -12.3%. Accordingly, market capitalisation printed at 13.4 trillion as investors gained N144.5 billion.
However, activity level waned as volume and value traded declined 60.3% and 63.1% to 183.5 million units and N2.9 billion respectively.
The top traded stocks by volume were GUARANTY (98.4 million units), ACCESS (40.7 million units) and FBNH (40.1 million units) while the top traded stocks by value were GUARANTY (N2.8 billion), STANBIC (N388.2 million) and ACCESS (N314.5 million).
Across sectors, performance was bullish as all indices under Afrinvest coverage gained. The Oil & Gas and Consumer Goods indices led gainers, up 5.7% and 4.9% respectively.
This was due to price appreciation in SEPLAT (+10.0%), TOTAL (+10.0%), NESTLE (+10.0%) and DANGSUGAR (+1.9%).
The Insurance and Banking indices trailed, rising 3.0% and 0.5% respectively, following gains in CONTINSURE (+9.9%), NEM (+9.5%), ACCESS (+6.9%) and FBNH (+1.9%).
Similarly, buying interest in CUTIX (+6.3%) pushed the Industrial index up by 2bps. The AFR-ICT index closed flat.
Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth strengthened to 2.3x from 0.9x recorded yesterday as 16 stocks gained against 7 stocks that lost.
Bear market: Zenith, GTB are two stocks to watch – FSDH
The top gainers today were SEPLAT (+10.0%), TOTAL (+10.0%) and NESTLE (+10.0%) while the top losers were FORTE (-6.8%), HONYFLOUR (-5.9%) and CUSTODIAN (-4.8%).
“In the absence of any major stimulus, we expect a bearish performance for the rest of the week. Nonetheless, we see opportunities for bargain hunting in stocks with sound fundamentals”, Afrinvest said.
Investors gain N144.5bn as equity market halts bearish trend
