Airtel gains 10% on debut listing, sustains bullish run on NSE

Airtel Africa Plc. recorded a 10 percent gain on its first trading day at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

The stock which was listed at an offer price of N363, increased by the maximum margin of 10 percent to close at N399.30. 100,000 units of the stock were sold, thereby bringing value of the stock traded to approximately N40 million.

Consequently, the bull run at the equities segment of the NSE was sustained to the second consecutive day, despite losses recorded in bellwether stocks.

Market experts at Afrinvest, have however projected a  bearish outlook, noting that the day’s bullish run is temporary.

“Our bearish outlook on the market remains unchanged, as we believe today’s bullish run is only temporary,” they stated in an investment guide on Tuesday.

The All Share Index inched 0.1 percent higher to settle at 29,318.85. Likewise, market capitalisation increased by N1.4 billion to N14.3 trillion while year-to-date loss moderated to 6.7 percent.

Activity level at the Exchange was also strengthened as volume and value traded inched up by 36.1 percent and 41.8 percent.

Volume and value traded increased from 216.3 million units and N2.3 billion to 294.4 million units and N3.2 billionn respectively.

Top traded stocks by volume were Cornerstone Insurance (80.1m units), Zenith Bank (48.5m units) and Guaranty Trust Bank (29.8m units). On the other hand, Zenith Bank with N922.8m worth of shares, Guaranty Trust Bank with N840.9m and MTN Nigeria with N491.7m led the top trades by value.

Meanwhile, performance across major sectors was negative as all 5 indices closed in the red. The banking and oil & gas indices led decliners, shedding 2.2 percent and 0.7 percent respectively, following sell offs in Guaranty Trust Bank (-3.0%), ETI (-8.7%), Forte Oil (-5.4%) and Conoil (-6.9%). Also, losses in Dangote Cement (-1.3%) and WAPIC (-7.0%) drove a 0.5 percent decline in the industrial goods and insurance indices respectively. The consumer goods index trailed, down 0.4% as a result of sell pressures in Dangote Sugar (-8.3%), PZ (-5.8%) and Flourmill (-1.8%).

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) also weakened to 0.4x from 1.2x in the previous trading session as 8 stocks advanced compared with 20 decliners. Tuesday’s top performers were Cadbury (+4.4%), Japaul Oil (+4.3%) and Dangote Flour (+1.8%) while Glaxosmithkline (-9.8%), Courteville (-8.7%) and ETI (-8.7%) declined the most.