Investors gain N2.2 trillion as NSE outperforms global index .The equities investors’ fortunes have increased N2.2 trillion, just as the Nigerians Stock Exchange (NSE) www.nse.com.ng outperformed global peers.
Analysts said that the positive sentiment on the local bourse seems to be changing market direction as bullish trend persist in the first month of the New Year.
“This is best start to the year in more than a decade”, Afrinvest said
The bullish move is said to be consolidating upon the last part of the previous rally and investors are uptick on the projected improvement in macroeconomic fundamentals.
Afrinvest wrote that it was a rosy week for the local bourse as the NSE ASI emerged the best performing stock exchange in dollar terms globally, according to Bloomberg.
During the week, NSE market cap was boosted as BUA Cement listed following the completion of the merger between OBU cement and CCNN.
Afrinvest stated that another positive note was that the Attorney-General of the Federation withdrew the case surrounding MTN Nigeria Plc’s alleged back taxes.
Thus, following the positive sentiment in the market, all trading sessions ended in the green, driven by sustained buying interest in bellwether stocks.
The benchmark index recorded gains throughout the week, rising 9.1% week on week to 29,415.39 points while year to date return rose to 9.6%.
Investors gained ₦2.2 trillion as market capitalisation increased to ₦15.2 trillion.
Activity level was mixed as average volume declined 7.1% to 536.5 million units while value traded rose 20.5% to ₦6.5 billion respectively.
UBA (345.2 million units), ZENITH (337.2 million units) and WAPIC (198.0 million units) were the top traded stocks by volume while ZENITH (₦7.1 billion), MTNN (₦3.2 billion) and UBA (₦2.9 billion) led by value.
Sectors also posted impressive performances as 5 of 6 indices Afrinvest analysts coverage trended northward week on week.
The Industrial Goods index gained the most with 22.3% owing to price appreciation in DANGCEM (+21.1%) and WAPCO (+11.6%).
Trailing, the Banking and AFR-ICT indices advanced 8.4% and 3.5% respectively following buying interest in FBNH (+15.9%), ZENITH (+13.5%) and MTNN (+6.4%).
Similarly, the Insurance and Consumer Goods indices gained 2.1% and 0.8% respectively as investors took position in SOVERNIN (+10.0%) and FLOURMILLS (+16.5%).
Lastly, the Oil & Gas index lost 2bps, on the back of price declines in FORTE (-6.1%) and TOTAL (-3.5%).
Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) rose to 2.6x as 49 stocks gained against 19 tickers that declined.
The top gainers were DANGCEM (+21.1%), PRESCO (+19.8%) and LIVESTOC (+18.0%) while UPDC (-18.6%), NCR (-10.0%) and UNIONDIC (-9.9%) led the decliners.
“We believe that the bullish momentum would continue as investors sustain interest in the market”, Afrinvest held.
By Gbenga Anisere
