Nigerian Exchange Records N5.1 Billion Gain as Stocks Rally
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) records a N5.1 billion gain as stocks rally Wednesday. This week, the equity market has remained bullish as companies release second quarter earnings results.
The gain inched up stock market capitalisation to N20.28 trillion while year to date losses record moderated to 3.3%. Consequently, the market All-share index gained by 0.03 per cent as the benchmark index closed at 38,927.89 points.
Today’s rally was driven by price appreciation in medium and large capitalized stocks such as ZENITH BANK, PRESCO, ACCESS, WEMABANK, WAPCO, VITAFOAM, STERLNBANK, NAHCO, FCMB.
Despite the sustained bargain hunting for the third trading session in the week, market breadth remains negative with 16 gainers versus 20 losers.
NGX data shows that trading activities closed lower with both volume and value of stocks traded on the exchange declining by 10.87 and 49.84 per cent respectively.
A total of 206.29 million units of shares valued at N1.06 billion, were traded in 3,435 deals.
STERLNBANK led the volume chart, accounting for 25.16 per cent of the total volume of trades, followed by TRANSCORP (9.34%) UBA (8.37%) WEMABANK (5.46%), and AIICO (4.60%) to complete the top five on the volume chart.
UBA led the value chart accounting for 12.21 per cent of the total value of trade on the exchange.
CUTIX, TRIPPLEG, PRESCO topped the gainers’ chart, with their share prices advancing by 10.00 per cent, 7.78 per cent, and 3.73 per cent, respectively.
Meanwhile, SOVRENINS led the losers’ table with its share price depreciating by 7.14 per cent to close at N0.26 after opening the day at N0.28.
Afrinvest said in a market report that performance across sectors under its coverage was mixed as 3 indices lost, 2 gained while the AFR-ICT index closed flat. The Oil & Gas index led the losers, down 0.6% due to sell-offs in OANDO (-3.4%) and ETERNA (-0.5%).
Followed by the Insurance and Consumer Goods indices which fell by 18 and 4 basis points respectively due to price depreciation in MBENEFIT (-2.7%), AIICO (-3.0%), and UNILEVER (-0.7%).
On the flip side, the Banking and Industrial Goods indices advanced by 56bps and 4bps respectively on the back of bargain hunting in ACCESS (+2.2%), ZENITH (+0.4%), and WAPCO (+0.5%).
“In the next trading session, we expect a positive performance in the market, as investors continue to engage in bargain hunting activities”, analysts projected.
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Nigerian Exchange Records N5.1 Billion Gain as Stocks Rally
