Nigeria equities market edges higher on buying interest in MTN, Zenith Bank, investors gain N26.6bn

Charles Abuede

The Nigerian equities market continued its bullish trend on Thursday with investors profiting from bullish trades resulting from high buying interest in MTN, Zenith Bank, among others with the market expected to close on a bullish note on Friday.

Gains in MTNN (+0.5%), ZENITH (+1.5%) and FCMB (+4.8%) drove the benchmark index up 20 basis points to settle at 25,511.02 points. Consequently, investors gained N26.6 billion as market capitalisation advanced to N13.3 trillion while the year to date (YTD) loss moderated to -5.0 per cent.

The trading activity level also improved as volume and value traded rose by 28.2 per cent and 17.3 per cent to 232.4 million units and N1.3 billion respectively. The top traded stocks by volume were TRANSCORP (70.6 million units), ZENITH (25.5 million units) and LASACO (17.1 million units) while ZENITH (N435.2 million), MTNN (N189.2 million) and GUARANTY (N166.8 million) led by value.

Bullish sector performance

The performance across sectors was impressive with four indices out of six recording gains while two closed flat. Also, the insurance and banking indices closed positive, up 50 basis points and 46 basis points respectively on the back of gains in LINKASSURE (+7.7%), ZENITH (+1.5%) and GUARANTY (+0.2%). Similarly, the AFR-ICT and consumer goods indices trailed, appreciating 30 basis points and 2 basis points respectively, due to buying interest in MTNN (+0.5%) and VITAFOAM (+5.1%). The oil & gas and industrial goods indices closed flat.

Investor sentiment improves

Meanwhile, investor sentiment on the trading floor as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) advanced to 3.0x from the 1.8x recorded previously as 19 stocks gained against the 6 that declined. The top gainers were UAC PROP (+8.3%), LINKASSURE (+7.7%) and ROYALEX (+6.5%) while NEIMETH (-6.5%), AIICO (-5.3%) and STERLING (-4.8%) lost the most.