Nigerian Bourse Hits 2008 High on Heavy Bargain Hunting
The Nigerian bourse performance indicators hit a 2008 high on Friday amidst heavy bargain hunting in the equity market. There has been heavy stock rerating in the local bourse amidst weak market performance in the fixed income space.
The negative real return on debt capital instruments has been driving investors positioning in the equity market. Demand and some bellwether moves to tame share volatility (Share buyback by Airtel and Dangote Cement) are also upside to the recent trend.
Gains in Airtel Africa Plc, Dangote, BUA Cement and MTN Nigeria Communication- the market movers – have aided the domestic bourse’s recent ballooning performance.
In the three days trading sessions this week, equity treasury hinters’ buying interest in bellwethers has been strong as investors’ position in value, and growth stocks. Consequently, the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) rallied as indicators jumped 0.19 per cent due to price appreciation in 43 stocks on Friday.
Market data shows that the Nigerian Exchange All-Share Index rose by 99.08 basis points representing a 0.19 per cent growth and closed at 50,935.03 points – a level seen last in March 2008.
Today, equity market capitalisation inched higher further by ₦53.42 billion, representing an uptrend of 0.19 per cent to close at ₦27.46 trillion. Meanwhile, the market activities remain mixed, as the total volume traded rose by 0.80 per cent while the total value shed 36.08 per cent, according to trading data cited by Atlass Portfolios Limited.
Stockbrokers at the investment firm hint that about 466.28 million units valued at ₦5.31 billion were transacted in 7,442 deals. TRANSCORP emerged as the most traded stock in terms of volume, accounting for 10.74 per cent of the total volume of trades.
The company was followed closely by FIDELITYBK (8.06%), COURTVILLE (7.85%), ZENITH BANK (6.37%), and INTBREW (6.24%) to complete the top five on the volume chart. READ: Weak Indicators Reduce Nigeria’s Economic Growth Optimism
SEPLAT appeared as the most traded stock in value terms, with 16.35 per cent of the total value of trades on the exchange. CAVERTON topped the advancers’ list with a price appreciation of 10.00 per cent.
CAVERTON was trailed closely by INTBREW (9.76%), OANDO (5.90%), FLOURMILL (4.23%), WEMABANK (3.02%), ETI (2.40%), UCAP (1.89%), ZENITHBANK (1.88%), WAPCO (1.85%), NB (1.38%), SEPLAT (0.87%), NGXGROUP (0.21%) and thirty-one (31) others.
Conversely, thirteen (13) stocks depreciated, topped by CWG with a price depreciation of 6.25 per cent to close at ₦0.9.
STANBIC lost 6.19% of its market valuation, HONYFLOUR dipped by 2.17%, VITAFOAM dragged downward by 0.83% and AFRIPRUD shed 0.83%. ACCESSCORP fell 0.52%, and GTCO declined 1.88%.
Overall, the market breadth was largely positive, recording 43 gainers and 13 losers while sectoral performance was positive.
All the five sectors closed bullishly compared to the previous session, led by the Consumer Goods (1.43%), Banking (1.34%), Insurance (0.98%), Oil & Gas (0.79%) and Industrial Goods (0.13%), respectively. #Nigerian Bourse Hits 2008 High on Heavy Bargain Hunting
