Nigerian equities trade positive in fourth consecutive session as benchmark index expands 1.41%

The Nigerian equities market closed positive Monday as benchmark index appreciated by 1.41 percent to settle at 36,831.93 basis points, thus sustaining uptrend for the fourth consecutive session.

Consequently, market year-to-date (YTD) gain berthed at 37.1 percent just as market capitalization gained N175.9 billion to close at N12.7 trillion.

The major drivers of Monday’s performance were DANGCEM (+2.9%), GUARANTY (+3.2%) and ZENITH (+0.9%). However, activity level waned as volume and value traded dipped 28.6 percent and 20.0 percent to 262.2 million units and N3.0 billion respectively.

Sector performance was largely positive as all sector indices trended northward.

The banking and oil & gas indices climbed 1.3 percent apiece on the back of gains in GUARANTY (+3.2%), ZENITH (+0.9%) and bargain hunting in TOTAL (+5.0%) and SEPLAT (+5.0%).

Similarly, rally in DANGCEM (+2.9%) ensured the industrial goods index closed 1.2 percent higher. In the same manner, the insurance and consumer goods indices rose 0.5 percent and 0.4 percent respectively on account of gains in CONSTINSURE (+4.6%) and NESTLE (+0.6%).

Market breadth stayed positive, improving to 2.9x (from 2.8x recorded on Friday) as 44 stocks advanced against 15, which declined.

The top gainers were MAYBAKER (+11.9%), PRESCO (+9.5%) and FBNH (+7.7%) while the top losers were CUTIX (-8.0%), UNITYBNK (-7.0%) and MRS (-4.9%).

Analysts attribute Monday’s positive close to expectations of positive third quarter earnings from companies.

“We attribute today’s positive close to investor expectation of Q3:2017 earnings results. In subsequent sessions, we expect market to remain upbeat as early bird investors continue to position in equities ahead of earnings releases,” analysts at Afrinvest noted.