Sustained investors sentiment spurs N46bn gain on stocks

By Omobayo Azeez

Nigerian equities market remains on a growth path as investors sustained positive sentiment on Thursday, leading to gain worth N46 billion at the close of the day’s trading session.

All Share Index gained 92.94 points or 0.35 per cent to close at 26,872.09 basis points while the valuation of the equities market closed higher at N12.970 trillion as buying interest in bellwethers buoyed gains for the third consecutive session.

Sector performance was largely bullish as the industrial goods index, which lost 2.4 per cent following sell-offs in CCNN, which amounted to -10 per cent decline, and WAPCO, which lost price value by -0.7 per cent, was the lone loser of the six indices, while all other indices closed on the green territory.

Market breadth also closed on the green territory with the emergence of 21 gainers against 12 declining counterparts and 12 others that closed flat.

Flour Mill gained the highest at N1.70 to close at N17.85. Other gainers include Stanbic, MTN Nigeria, Dangote Cement, and Dangote Sugar gaining N1, N0.95, N0.90 and N0.85 to close at N40, N120, N144.90 and 13.10 per share respectively.

On the flip side, CCNN led other losers as it shed N2 to close at N18 while Unilever Plc trailed with N1.05 loss. Zenith Bank Plc, United bank for Africa and WAPCo Plc lost N0.20, N0.15 and N0.10 to close at N18.60, N7.60 and 14.40 per share respectively.

The most active stocks by volume were FBNH with 74.028 million share units worth N558.421 million; ) TRANSCORP  with 19.188 million shares at N19.579 million, and Zenith Bank followed by trading 18.307 million shares valued at N342.453 million.

In terms of trade value, FBNH topped the chart, GUARANTY followed with a value of N506.182 million over 17.233 million shares while ZENITH occupied the third position on the trade value list for the day.

Speaking with on the positive posture posted by the equities market since last week, the Chief Executive Officer of APT Securities and Funds Limited, Mallam Garba Kurfi projected that as a result of the gains, the market might reverse the loss recorded at the opening session of the week and close the week positively.

He, however, noted that, while the market is expected to post a weekly profit, the profit is most likely going to be marginal given that the equities have not fully back on track.