Nigerian stocks index advances 0.5% on buy interest in DANGCEM as world’s choppy on doubts over US tax reforms

Nigerian stocks index advanced 0.5 percent Monday to settle at 37,312.28 points, while most world stock markets traded down amid uncertainty over the fate of U.S. tax reform efforts.

The Nigerian equities market’s year to date gain thus expanded to 38.8 percent with market capitalization gaining N66.5 billion to settle at N12.9 trillion.

The day’s positive performance was largely on the back of price appreciation in DANGCEM (+3.9%). A detailed analysis of trading indicates that ex- DANGCEM, market would have lost 1.0 percent.

Market activity level also improved on the day as volume and value traded surged 91.9 percent and 1034.6 percent to 336.3 million units and N30.0 billion respectively. The surge in activity is attributable to a cross deal of 128.5 million shares of DANGCEM at N210.0/share in a deal valued at N27.0 billion.

Sector performance was mixed as three of five indices closed the day’s trading session in the red. The industrial goods index was the biggest gainer, up 2.1 percent due to buying interest in DANGCEM (+3.9%).

Similarly, the oil & gas index followed appreciating 0.9 percent on back of gains in FORTE OIL (+8.8%).

On the contrary, the banking Index shed the most, down 1.6 percent as investors’ booked profit in the GUARANTY (-3.0%), UBA (-1.6%) and ZENITH (-0.6%). In the same vein, the consumer goods and insurance indices closed lower, down 1.3 percent and 0.4 percent respectively due to losses in NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-3.4%) and CUSTODYN (-4.6%).

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advancers/decliners) retreated to 0.6x from 1.1x recorded on Friday.

The day’s top gainers were FORTE (+8.8%), OKOMUOIL (+4.6%) and NEM (+4.4%) while CILEASING (-4.8%), CAVERTON (-4.8%) and VITAFOAM (-4.7%) were the top losers.

On the global stage stocks fell Monday as investors became more cautious after several market indexes hit record highs in the past week. Market caution was also dictated a pervading uncertainty over the fate of U.S. tax reform efforts, while Britain’s pound fell on growing concerns about the future of Prime Minister Theresa May.

The London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.2 percent to 7,418 amid concerns about the stability of the country’s government as Brexit talks fail to progress. France’s CAC 40 was 0.9 percent lower at 5,332 and Germany’s DAX shed 0.8 percent to 13,017.

On Wall Street, futures for the Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor’s 500 index, which hit a record on Wednesday last week, were both down 0.3 percent.

Specifically, U.S. stock indexes made little ground, with some investors seeking bargains after a few days of losses while others were put off by a dividend cut from heavyweight General Electric.

General Electric said it is slashing its dividend in half as investors gathered in Boston, where Chairman and CEO John Flannery is expected to lay out a significant retooling of the U.S. conglomerate. GE’s quarterly dividend is being cut to 12 cents per share, from 24 cents, starting next month. Shares in GE were up 2.2 percent in premarket trading.

However, In Asia, the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.4 percent to 3,447.84 while Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.3 percent to 22,380.99. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.2 percent to 29,182.18 and Seoul’s Kospi shed 0.5 percent to 2,530.35. Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 retreated 0.1 percent to 6,021.80 and India’s Sensex lost 0.4 percent to 33,164.85. Benchmarks in New Zealand and Jakarta advanced while Taiwan and Singapore fell.