Nigerian equities Wednesday sustained its gaining streak since the beginning of the week, as the all-share index rose 38 basis points to close at 38,144.02 points.
Consequently, year-to-date gain improved to 41.9 percent while market capitalization added N49.8 billion to settle at N13.2 trillion.
Wednesday’s bullish performance was largely driven by sustained interest in consumer goods and banking stocks including NESTLE (+3.9%), GUINNESS (+10.2%) and GUARANTY (+0.8%).
Similarly, activity level increased as volume and value traded rose 50.6 percent and 20.3 percent to 328.7million units and N6.1 billion respectively. This is in contrast to previous session’s volume and value traded that slid 14.3 percent and 12.5 percent to 218.2 million units and N5.1 billion respectively.
The performance across sectors was largely bullish as all indices closed in the green save for the Industrial Goods index, which closed flattish.
The consumer goods index led gainers chart with a 1.5 percent appreciation due to buy sentiment in NESTLE (+3.9%) and GUINNESS (+10.2%), while the insurance index followed, nudging 0.3 percent higher as a result of bargain hunting in MANSARD (+5.0%).
Likewise, the banking index marginally climbed 0.1 percent on account of gains in GUARANTY (+0.8%) and ACCESS (+2.3%) whilst OANDO (+1.3%) drove the oil & gas index to close one basis point higher.
Oil and gas company, CONOIL, topped the losers’ chart dipping by 32.86 percent, trailed by ETI (-17.3%) UNILEVER (-41%) DANGSUGAR (-14.25%) and CHAMPION (-2.53%).
However, investor sentiments waned just as previous trading session as market breadth declined to 0.9x (from 1.5x recorded yesterday) after 20 stocks advanced against 23 decliners.
The best performing stocks Wednesday were GUINNESS (+10.2%), NAHCO(+10. 0%) and DANGFLOUR (+9.5%) while the worst performers were CHAMPION(-9.3%), LIVESTOCK (-5.0%) and CONOIL (-5.0%).
The moderation in market breadth suggests that some investors are possibly taking profit on stocks that had appreciated in prior sessions.
Analysts expect a market correction in the short-term as general investor sentiment remains strong on the back of improving confidence in CBN’s foreign exchange policy and a strong earnings season.
