Renewed Interest in Airtel, 27 Others Lift Stock Market by N979.78bn

Kayode Tokede

Recovering from the previous session’s loss, the stock market of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX)  yesterday  gained N979.78 billion as investors renewed interest in Airtel Africa Plc and 27 others.

The NGX All-Share Index (ASI) gained 1,790.58 basis points or 1.76 per cent to close at 103,498.28 basis points from 101,707.70 basis points it opened for trading.

Also, market capitalisation rose by N979.78 billion to close at N56.633 trillion from N55.653trillion it closed the previous day.

Performance across the sectors was mixed, as the NGX Oil & Gas Index appreciated by 5.3per cent, NGX Consumer Goods gained four per cent and NGX Banking increased by two per cent, while the NGX Industrial Goods depreciated by 3.5per cent and NGX Insurance dropped by 0.3per cent.

Sequentially, the NGX Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns advanced to +2.3per cent and +38.4per cent, respectively.

As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive, as 28 stocks gained relative to 25 losers. Unity Bank and Airtel Africa emerged the highest price gainer of 10.00 per cent each to close at N2.42 and N2,200.00 respectively, while Juli followed with a gain of 9.91 per cent to close at N1.22, per share.

FBN Holdings  rose by 9.90 per cent to close at N27.20, while Morison Industries appreciated by 9.82 per cent to close at N3.02, per share.

On the other side, NCR Nigeria, Thomas Wyatt Nigeria and MeCure Industries led others on the losers’ chart with 10 per cent each to close at N4.32, N2.25 and N9.72 respectively, per share.

Meyer followed with a decline of 9.99 per cent to close at N6.22, while BUA Cement shed 9.91 per cent to close at N150.00, per share.

The total volume traded rose by 62.19 per cent to 426.861 million units, valued at N12.107 billion, and exchanged in 8,654 deals. Transactions in the shares of FBNH led the activity with 54.611 million shares worth N1.479 billion. United Bank for Africa (UBA) followed with account of 47.658 million shares valued at N1.173 billion, while Access Holdings traded 46.045 million shares valued at N1.092 billion.

Transnational Corporation (Transcorp) traded 30.646 million shares worth N394.903 million, while Nigerian Breweries traded 25.488 million shares worth N968.657 million.

Analysts at Cordros Research said, “We expect the weak sentiments that dominated the local bourse this week to persist in the week ahead as investors continue to scale down exposure to equities amidst expectations of a continued uptick in fixed income yields.”