Stocks Edge Higher as Investors Position for Earnings Season
Stock market edges higher by N43.4 billion mid-week as investors positioning for the first half of 2021 earnings season releases from corporates extend the rally. The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) extended its bullish run to maintain an upward trajectory, resulting in a 0.22 per cent uptick in the All-share Index (ASI).
The positive sentiment on the bourse was driven by bargain hunting in medium and large capitalized stocks, say analysts at Atlass Portfolios analysts in a market report. Meanwhile, data shows that market breadth remained positive, with 23 gainers versus 14 laggards.
Also, market activities ended with both the volume and value of trades appreciating by 2.48 per cent and 5.97 per cent, respectively. A total of 296.09 million units of shares valued at N2.56 billion, were traded in 4,507 deals.
FBNH led the volume chart, accounting for 11.76 per cent of the total volume of trades, followed by ACCESS (9.69%) ZENITH BANK (9.36%) FIDELITYBK (8.36%), and TRANSCORP (8.08%) to complete the top five on the volume chart.
But ZENITH BANK led the value chart accounting for 26.89 per cent of the total value of trade on the exchange.
CUTIX, JOHN HOLT and UAC-PROP led the gainers’ chart, with their share prices advancing by 10.00 per cent, 9.84 per cent, and 9.71 per cent, respectively.
On the other hand, BOCGAS topped the losers’ table with its share price depreciating by 9.94 per cent to close at N7.70 after opening the day at N8.55.
Sector Performance
Afrinvest Limited said in its market report that performance across sectors under its coverage was bullish as 5 of 6 indices closed in the green while the AFR-ICT index closed flat.
The Insurance and Banking indices led the gainers, up 0.6% and 0.5% respectively following buying interest in WAPIC (+5.4%), CUSTODIAN (+4.8%), ACCESS (+2.7%), and ZENITH (+0.8%). Furthermore, gains in OANDO (+2.6%) drove the Oil & Gas index higher, up 0.4%.
Similarly, the Industrial and Consumer Goods indices rose by 0.1% apiece due to price appreciation in WAPCO (+1.6%), DANGSUGAR (+2.0%), FLOURMILL (+0.2%).
“In the coming trading session, we expect the positive performance to be sustained as investors take a position in relatively cheap stocks ahead of the earnings season”, Afrinvest analysts projected.
Stocks Edge Higher as Investors Position for Earnings Season
