*All-share index rising by 2.8%…
The stock market all share index (ASI) rose 2.8 percent to settle at 30,314.14 points, lifted by gains in First Bank Holdings, Dangote
Cement, Nigerian Breweries and Zenith Bank. The index thus crossed the 30,000 points mark for the first time since almost a year ago.
To this end, market capitalization increased N282.0bn to close at N10.5tn. Specifically gains in DANGCEM (+5.0%), NIGERIAN BREWERIES
(+4.9%), FBNH (+10.0%) and ZENITH (+2.9%) kept the bears out of the market.
Market activity also strengthened as volume and value traded rose 26.6% and 38.6% to settle at 434.4m units and N4.6bn respectively in 5,107 deals.
Performance across sectors largely trended in the same direction as the benchmark index as all indices closed higher save for the oil & gas index, which fell 0.2% as investors continued to take profit in OANDO (-5.3%) and SEPLAT (-0.6%).
The consumer and industrial goods indices surged 2.5% and 2.4% respectively on the back of uptrend in DANGCEM (+5.0%) and NIGERIAN
BREWERIES (+4.9%). Similarly, the banking index rose 1.7% on the back of gains in ZENITH (+2.9%), UBA (+4.9%), ACCESS (+5.5%) and ETI (+3.8%). Likewise, the Insurance index trended 1.5% northwards as MANSARD (+4.9%), NEM (+4.2%) and AIICO (+3.8%) closed higher.
Investor sentiment stayed strong in today’s trading session as evident in the market breadth (advancers/decliners ratio), which surged to 3.9x (from 1.7x yesterday). The best performing stocks were FBNH (+10.0%), MAYBAKER (+9.4%) and LEARNAFRICA (+8.1%) while the worst performing stocks were LINKASSURE (-9.5%), OANDO (-5.3%) and 7UP (-5.0%).
“Despite the sustained market rally and the benchmark index’s 14-Day RSI closing at 85.7 points (indicating that market is in the overbought region) trading multiples show that Nigerian equities remain cheaper and attractive when compared to SSA peers,” say analysts at Afrinvest.
They believe the improvements made in FX management will continue to buoy foreign participation in the market.
By Business a.m. live staff
