Investors sustained a rally for Dangote Cement (+1.1%), Nigerian Breweries (+1.0%) and Eco Transnational Incorporated (+2.2%) stocks on Thursday to drive the gaining streak in the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) to the sixth consecutive trading session.
The All Share Index (ASI) thus closed 0.4 percent northwards to 30,583.21 points, as year-to-date loss moderated to -2.7 percent while market capitalization increased by N45.7 billion to close the day at N11.4 trillion.
Investor sentiment remained strong as 23 stocks appreciated relative to 15 that declined with top gainers emerging as Neimeth Pharmaceuticals (+9.8%), NEM Insurance (+9.7%) and Sovereign Insurance (+9.1%). On the other hand E-TRANZACT (-9.9%), Resort Savings and Loans (-9.7%) and Cornerstone Insurance (-9.1%) led the losers table.
Activity chart showed volume traded declined 24.4 percent to 231.2 million units while value traded advanced 55.2 percent to N11.4 billion.
Diamond Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank and Zenith Bank were the most traded stocks by volume with an exchange of 59.6m units, 45.6m units and 19.8m units respectively. Companies with the highest trade by value were Guaranty Trust Bank (N1.5bn), Nigerian Breweries (N465.4m) and Zenith Bank (N427.6m).
Across the five major sectors, performance was bullish with four of the sectoral indices closing in the positive territory.
Price appreciation in Dangote Cement (+1.1%), Cement Company of Northern Nigeria (+4.6%) and Forte Oil (+2.6%) drove the industrial and oil & gas indices 2.0 percent and 0.5 percent higher respectively.
In the same vein, the consumer goods and insurance indices advanced 0.3 percent and 0.1 percent respectively due to gains in Nigerian Breweries (+1.0%), Dangote Flour (+0.8%), NEM Insurance (+9.7%) and Sovereign Insurance (+9.1%).
On the flip side, the banking index was the lone loser, down 0.3 percent due to sell pressures in Zenith (-1.1%), Guaranty (-0.6%) and Access (-0.9%).
The outcome of Thursday’s trade led equities market analysts to advise investors in positioning largely in value stocks. Afrinvest research firm, Thursday noted that they maintain a cautiously optimistic outlook for the market in the near term and recommend that investors position largely in value stocks.
