Stocks halt losses, post N38bn gain
By Omobayo Azeez
The Nigeran bourse settled for a bull run on Tuesday which produced a N38 billion appreciation in the aggregate value of equities at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
As the market rebounded, the stock benchmark index (ASI) recorded an uptick of 0.3 per cent as it added 71.48 points to close at 24,097.48 basis points.
In a parallel manner, market capitalization appreciated by the same percentage points to close the second trading day of the week at N12.571 trillion, N38 billion higher than the previous closing figure of N12.533 billion.
On sectors, the Insurance, consumers goods and oil and gas indices shed -2.8 per cent, -0.5 per cent and -0.02 per cent respectively; the 0.9 per cent and 0.1 per cent gains in banking and industrial goods sectors absorbed losses in other sectors to record the collectively daily uptick.
The profit nonetheless, the local equities market remains shrouded in uncertainties and predictions by analysts in various quarters indicate foggy days ahead because of envisaged poor Q2 performance as the listed companies are warming up to start turning in their financial reports for the quarter.
As the market closed on Tuesday, market sentiment, as measured by market breadth, was negative as 18 tickers declined, relative to 17 gainers.
Telecoms company, Airtel Africa, led other gainer as it appreciated in price by N11.60 to close at N328.70 per share.
BUACEMENT followed with N1 gain to close at N90.90, while ZenithBank, Red Starex and PZ Cuzzon gained N0.3, N0.29 and N0.20 to close at N16.35, N3.26 and N4.2 per share respectively.
On the flip side, Okomu Oil recorded the highest decline of N7.70 to close at N69.70 per share. Unilever and MRS both lost N 1.35 to close at N12.45 per share.
Other decliners that emerged at the session included MTN Nigeria and Dangote Cement, each losing N1 to end the session at N115 and N126 per share respectively.
The total volume of trades decreased by 18.0 per cent to 155.53 million units, valued at N2.60 billion and exchanged in 4,060 deals.
GUARANTY was the most traded stock by volume at 19.72 million units while MTN Nigeria was the most traded stock by value at N1.18 billion.