All-Index Gains 0.45% as Market Opens Week on Bullish Note

Trading at the stock market resumed for the week on a positive note yesterday, with the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All-Share Index rising by 0.45 per cent to close at 38,844.32. The market had recovered N700 billion last week after bargain hunters swooped on oversold counters. For four days running, the market was bullish but fell on Friday as some investors paused for profit taking.

However, the bullish trend resumed yesterday as 30 stocks appreciated while 20 others depreciated. Consequently, the month-to-date and year-to-date growth improved to 1.94 per cent and 1.57 per cent in that order.

According analysts at Meristem Securities Limited, trading recovered from the losses recorded on the final trading session last week.

“The gains on counters in the banking and consumer goods sectors drove the performance of the market. We expect this to continue for the remainder of the week, even with bouts of profit taking on some of the counters,” they said.

Bellwethers such as Nigerian Breweries Plc, FBN Holdings Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc and Zenith Bank Plc were among the advancers. But NASCON Allied Industries Plc led the overall gainers’ table with 7.1 per cent.

Diamond Bank Plc trailed with 6.5 per cent, while Japaul Oil & Maritime Services Plc gained 6.4 per cent. NAHCO Plc and Equity Assurance Plc chalked up 5.0 per cent each. AIICO Insurance Plc and Presco Plc gained 4.8 per cent and 4.7 per cent respectively.

Conversely, Berger Paints Nigeria Plc led the price losers with 5.0 per cent, followed by BOC Gases Plc with 4.9 per cent. Eterna Plc shed 4.7 per cent just as Prestige Assurance Plc and Wema Bank Plc went down by 4.4 per cent and 3.9 per cent respectively.

Meanwhile, activity level was mixed as volume traded improved by 187.2 per cent to 603.2 million shares while value traded remained flat at N3.9 billion. The most traded stocks by volume were Ikeja Hotel Plc (279.6 million shares), United Capital Plc (79.1 million shares) and African Prudential Plc (56.8 million shares) while Ikeja Hotel Plc (N705.0 million shares), Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc (N641.9 million) and GTBank (N437.7 million) were the top traded stocks by value.