NSE begins September with 0.14% growth

Trading resumed for the month of September on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) with a marginal growth of 0.14 percent.

The market capitalisation grew by N19 billion or 0.14 percent to close higher at N13.410 trillion against N13.391 trillion on Friday.

Also, the All-Share Index (ASI) rose by 39.28 points or 0.14 percent to 27,565.09 compared with 27,525.81 posted on Friday.

The upturn was impacted by gains recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, among which are; Nestle Nigeria, Cement Company of Northern Nigeria (CCNN), Unilever Nigeria, United Bank for Africa (UBA) and Zenith Bank.

In spite of the marginal growth, analysts at Afrinvest Limited expected the bearish run in the equities market to resurface as the weak macro-economic environment continues to cast a shadow on investor sentiment.

Also, analysts at Imperial Assets Manager said “this week, we expect bargain hunting on stocks that have witnessed significant price depreciation in recent past to still be at fore.

“Overall, we expect developments in the fiscal space to weigh in on sentiments, as investors assess the direction of recent policy pronouncements.”

Improved Sentiments:

Market breadth closed positive with 22 stocks recorded gains against 14 losers.

Cement Company of Northern Nigeria recorded the highest price gain of 9.78 percent to close at N17.40 per share.

Cornerstone Insurance came second with a gain of 9.52 percent to close at 23k, while UBA appreciated by 5.98 percent to close at N6.20 per share.

Nestle Nigeria went up by 5.94 percent to close at N1,319, while GlaxoSmithKline Consumer appreciated by 3.47 percent to close at N7.45 per share.

Conversely, UACN led the losers’ chart with a loss of 10 percent, to close at N4.50 per share.

Champion Breweries followed with a decline of 9.80 percent to close at N1.38, while Africa Prudential shed 9.25 percent to close at N3.63 per share.

Chams dipped 7.69 percent to close at 24k, while University Press dropped 7.38 percent to close at N1.13 per share.

However, the volume of shares traded closed lower at 10.63 percent to 111.52 million shares valued at N1.56 billion exchanged in 3,122 deals.

This was in contrast with a turnover of 124.78 million shares worth N1.82 billion transacted in 3,089 deals on Friday.

Transactions in the shares of Zenith Bank topped the activity chart with 16.15 million shares valued at N283.9 million.

UBA followed with 13.95 million shares worth N86.04 billion, while FBN Holdings traded 13.64 million shares valued at N64.8 million.

UACN accounted for 7.8 million shares valued at N35.91 million, while Guaranty Trust Bank transacted 5.15 million shares worth N141.08 million.