Equities Market Rises Further as Bulls Consolidate Hold

Goddy Egene

The bulls consolidated their hold on the market yesterday as buying interests in Dangote Cement Plc, MTN Nigeria Plc and Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc lifted the benchmark index further.

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All-Share Index (ASI) rose by 1.54 per cent to close at 40,963.14, while market capitalisation rose by N325.3 billion to close at N21.4 trillion.

Also, volume and value of trading rose 72.9 per cent and 27.9 per cent respectively to 809.4 million shares and N8.9 billion. Year-to-date, the NSE ASI has gained 1.7 per cent.

The bulls clearly dominated the market as 49 stocks gaineds compared with seven price losers. Champion Breweries Plc led the price gainers with 9.8 per cent, trailed by NASCON Allied Industries Plc with 9.7 per cent. Japaul Gold Ventures Plc and AXA Mansard Insurance Plc chalked up 9.4 per cent apiece.

Ardova Plc (AP) rose further with a gain of 9.2 per cent as investors reacted to the news of its moves to acquire Enyo Retail and Supply Limited.

Enyo is one of the newest and fastest growing retail and supply companies in the downstream sector. Enyo is a technologically driven player and currently operates over 90 stations across Nigeria attending to over 100,000 retail customers daily across 15 states of the country.

The Chief Executive Officer of AP, Mr. Olumide Adeosun, had explained that immediately following completion, AP will look to retain the Enyo branded stations which will operate side by side with the AP brand whilst leveraging the strengths of AP and its group companies.

According to him, the parties are committed to concluding the deal by the end of first quarter (Q1) 2021, noting that AP and Enyo Retail & Supply Limited will provide further information on progress made on the proposed acquisition.

Livestock Feeds Plc, Academy Press Plc, Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc, Tripple Gee & Company Plc and Veritas Kapital Assurance Plc garnered 9.0 per cent each.

Conversely, Courtville Business Solutions Plc led the price losers with 8.3 per cent, trailed by Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals Plc with 6.3 per cent. Union Diagnostic and Clinical Services Plc shed 3.1 per cent. Jaiz Bank Plc and John Holt Plc went down by 2.7 per cent and 1.9 per cent respectively.

Meanwhile, the most traded stocks by volume were Transcorp Plc (136.6 million shares), Mutual Benefits Assurance Plc (70.6 million shares) and GTBank Plc (69.0 million shares) while GTBank Plc ( N2.3 billion), Lafarge Africa Plc(N1.4 billion) and Zenith Bank (N1.1 billion) topped by value.