Nigerian equities sustain bullish sentiments as market index up 0.6%

The Nigerian equities market sustained its upbeat performance in Tuesday trading session as the benchmark index climbed 0.6 percent to close at 32,827.98 points, further pushing YTD gain to 22.2 percent.

Tuesday’s performance was largely driven by positive sentiment towards DANGCEM (+0.6%) and NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+0.8%) as well as sustained interest in banking stocks – GUARANTY (+2.6%), ZENITH (+3.3%) and ACCESS (+2.3%).

Consequently, stock prices gained N73.5 billion as market capitalization rose to N11.3 trillion. Market activity equally improved as volume and value traded rose 20.2 percent and 3.8 percent to 218.8 million units and N2.1 billion respectively.

Performance across sectors was positive as all indices trended northwards.

The banking index advanced the most, rising 2.0 percent on the back of sustained interest in GUARANTY (+2.6%) and ZENITH (+3.3%), while uptick in CONTINSURE (+2.9%) and LINKASSURE (+3.5%) pushed the insurance index 0.6 percent higher.

Similarly, the industrial and consumer goods indices climbed 0.3 percent and 0.2 percent due to sustained interest in DANGCEM (+0.6%) and NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+0.8%) respectively, while the oil & gas index inched three basis points (bps) higher following price appreciation in OANDO (+4.4%).

However, market sentiment as mirrored by the market breadth declined to 1.2x (from 1.6x recorded yesterday) as 24 stocks advanced while 19 stocks declined.

At the summit of the gainers’ chart are NEIMETH (+9.4%), VITAFOAM (+5.4%) and OKOMUOIL (+5.0%), while UBN (-6.3%), PRESCO (-5.0%) and CADBURY (-4.9%) led the losers’ chart.

In the NASD OTC exchange, four counters traded – WAMCO, IGI, CSCS and NDEP – with total volume and value of transactions closing at 13,700 units and N1.2m respectively. NDEP accounted for 68.6% of total volume traded, followed by CSCS (18.2%).

“Whilst the reduction in market breadth is suggestive of softer sentiment towards equities, we expect investors to take position in value stocks in subsequent sessions in anticipation of positive half-year corporate releases,” analysts at Afrinvest noted.