Equities market gains ₦5.6 billion as investors bargain undervalue stocks

The equities segment of the Nigerian Stock Exchange  maintained its gaining streak on Thursday as investors bargained on undervalued stocks.

Stocks appreciated by N5.6 billion while year to date loss moderated to 1.5%, and market capitalisation pitched at N13.8 trillion.

Meanwhile, the All-Share Index rose 4 basis points (bps) to 26,426.20 points due to gains in STANBIC (+9.9%), ZENITH (+2.0%) and ETI (+9.3%).

Activity level surged as volume and value traded advanced 40.4% and 178.9% to 431.9 million units and ₦7.8 billion respectively.

The most actively traded stocks by volume were GUARANTY (75.8 million units), ZENITH (62.7 million units) and REDSTAREX (61.8 million units)

However, NESTLE (₦2.9 billion), GUARANTY  (₦1.9 billion) and ZENITH   (₦1.3 billion) led by value.

Performance across sectors was mixed as 2 sectors gained, 2 lost while the remaining 2 indices closed flat.

The Banking and Industrial Goods indices ended in the green territory, up 1.1% and 0.3% respectively, following gains in ZENITH (+2.0%), ETI (+9.3%), BUACEMENT (+0.3%) and WAPCO (+0.7%).

Conversely, the Consumer Goods and Insurance indices recorded losses, down 2.6% and 0.9% respectively, on the back of downturn in NESTLE (-5.8%), NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-3.6%) and NEM (-7.5%).

Lastly, the Oil & Gas and AFR-ICT indices closed flat.

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) eased to 2.1x from the 2.2x recorded in the previous trading session as 23 stocks advanced relative to the 11 that declined.

The best performance was led by CHAMS (+10.0%), STANBIC (+9.8%) and CUTIX (+9.6%).

GLAXOSMITH (-9.5%), JAIZBANK (-8.2%) and NEM (-7.5%) led the laggards.

“We expect market performance to remain bullish at the end of the week as investors take advantage of undervalued stocks”, Afrinvest stated.

Equities market gains ₦5.6 billion as investors bargain undervalue stocks By Ogochi Ndubuisi