Charles Abuede
- Investors make N3.4bn profit
- See more bargain hunt ahead
After a bearish start to the week Monday, the Nigerian stock market posted its first gain Tuesday as price appreciation in Nigerian Breweries (+1.0%), Stanbic IBTC (+3.5%) and International Breweries (+9.6%) drove a two basis points increase in the benchmark index to 28,344.04 points. As a result, the market capitalisation improved to N14.81 trillion as investors gained N3.4 billion, while the year to date (YTD) and month to date (MTD) returns improved to 5.6 per cent apiece.
The activity level on the trading floor was mixed as volume traded rose 45.1 per cent to 535.8 million units while value traded fell 0.8 per cent to N5 billion. The most traded stocks by volume were Regal Insurance (245.8 million units), Guaranty Trust Bank (100.3 million units) and United Bank for Africa (32.9 million units) while GTB (N3 billion), Stanbic IBTC (N526.8 million) and Zenith Bank (N295.3 million) led by value.
Mixed sector performanceÂ
Performance across sectors was mixed albeit positively skewed as three of six indices closed in the green. The consumer goods index led the gainers, up 0.9 per cent on the back of gains in Nigerian Breweries (+1.0%), International Breweries (+9.6%) and Cadbury Plc (+1.4%). In the same vein, the insurance and oil & gas indices appreciated 0.3 per cent and 0.1 per cent respectively, due to price uptick in AIICO Insurance (+3.7%) and Eterna Plc (+9.6%).
On the flip side, the banking and AFR-ICT indices declined 1.2 per cent and six basis points respectively on the back of losses in GTB (-2.5%), UBA (-2.9%) and E-Tranzact (-9.8%). Lastly, the industrial goods index closed flat.
Investor sentiment strengthens
Meanwhile, investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) strenthened to 1.2x from the 0.6x recorded previously as 18 stocks gained against the 15 that declined. Eterna Plc (+9.8%), International Breweries (+9.6%) and Regal Insurance (+9.1%) were top gainers while E-Tranzact (-9.8%), Royal Express (-7.4%) and Portland Paint (-7.0%) led the underperformers.
