Stock market Return Balloons on Heavy Treasures Hunting
The Nigerian stock market return hits a whopping 16.2% in April close as capital gain and dividend treasures hunters continue to bet large, taking heavy positioning in value and growth stocks.
Market data shows that the domestic bourse closed the month of April on a positive note as the benchmark index rose 5.7% above March’s record to 49,638.94 points.
Stockbrokers told MarketForces Africa that relatively healthy earnings releases by corporates as well as dividend announcements, and payments have been supporting treasure hunters buying interests.
Citing data from the Nigerian Exchange, Afrinvest Limited indicated that out of 19 trading days in the month, the domestic bourse recorded gains on 14 indicating a strong bullish run.
Meanwhile, trading activity weakened in April as the average volume and value traded declined 15.0% and 2.8% to 319.4 million units and ₦4.7 billion respectively. READ: Equity Market Roars as Treasures Hunters Bet Large
On Friday, the Nigeria local bourse jumped by 1.64 per cent as the market index near 50,000 points due to buying interest in AIRTELAFRI, NESTLE, DANGECEM, and 33 others.
As a result, the All-Share Index rose by 801.18 basis points representing a 1.64 per cent growth, closed at 49,638.94. Stock traders at Atlass Portfolios Limited said in a market report that equity market capitalisation inched up ₦431.92 billion representing an uptrend of 1.64 per cent to close at ₦26.76 trillion.
Likewise, the market activities were bullish as the week ran down with total volume and value traded up 743.25 per cent and 446.22 per cent, respectively. Stockbrokers noted that about 6.41 billion units valued at ₦30.24billion were transacted in 6,378 deals.
TRANSCORP emerged as the most traded stock in terms of volume, accounting for 11.30 per cent of the total volume of trades.
The company’s stock was followed closely by AIICO (8.50%), FCMB (6.92%), FBNH (5.17%), and ACCESSCORP (4.85%) to complete the top five on the volume chart.
Last week, MTNN appeared as the most traded stock in value terms, with 15.21 per cent of the total value of trades on the exchange. NEM topped the advancers’ chart with a price appreciation of 10.00 per cent.
The Insurance stock was followed closely by JBERGER (9.35%), AIRTELAFRI (5.00%), VITAFOAM (4.75%), NESTLE (3.23%), DANGCEM (2.31%), WEMABANK (2.04%), FBNH (0.84%), FLOURMILL (0.30%), MTNN (0.23%), GTCO (0.21%), NB (0.09%) and twenty-four (24) others.
Conversely, twelve (12) stocks depreciated, topped by NPFMCRFBK with a price depreciation of 10.00 per cent to close at ₦1.98.
ETERNA (-7.38%), DANGSUGAR (-4.42%), ACCESSCORP (-2.02%), UNILVER (-1.45%), ARDOVA (-1.44%), UCAP (-0.37%) and ZENITHBANK (-0.20%) also dipped in price. In that regard, the market breadth was largely positive, recording 36 gainers and 12 losers.
Sectoral performance was positive, as all the five sectors closed bullishly compared to the previous session. Positive sector performance was led by Insurance (1.85%), Consumer Goods (1.31%), Industrial Goods (1.20%), Oil & Gas (0.68%), and Banking (0.17%), respectively. #Stock market Return Balloons on Heavy Treasures Hunting
