Stock Market Appreciates by N70.14bn on Buy Interest in MTN, 29 Others

Kayode Tokede

The stock market section of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) kicked off the week on a bullish note, as investors buying interest in MTN Nigeria Communication (+0.6 per cent), Zenith Bank Plc (+1.43per cent) BUA Cement (+0.52per cent), ETI (+9.9per cent) and 26 others lifted market capitalisation by N70.14billion.

The market capitalisation opened trading this week at N39.149trillion, gaining N70.14billion or 0.18per cent to close yesterday at N39.219trillion.

The NGX All-Share Index closed at 71,669.91basis points from 71,541.74basis points, leading the stock market Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns to +0.4per cent and +39.8per cent, respectively.

Sectoral performance was mixed, as the NGX Banking Index gained 1.6per cent and NGX Industrial Goods Index added 0.2per cent, while the NGX Insurance Index dropped by 0.2per cent.

 Meanwhile, the NGX Consumer Goods and Oil & Gas indices closed flat at 1,143.76 basis points and 1,041.14 basis points respectively.

Analysis of the stock market activities showed trade turnover settled lower relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions down by 46.53per cent.

A total of 375.32million shares valued at N3.85billion were exchanged in 7,011 deals. Veritas Kapital Assurance Plc (+2.86per cent) led the volume chart with 88.84million units traded while Access Corporation (-0.25pepr cent  ) led the value chart in deals worth N612.70million.

The market breadth closed positive with 30 advancing stocks outnumbering 23 declining ones.

SFSREIT top the gainer table after adding 9.98 per cent to close at N101.35, followed by ETI that gained 9.88per cent to close at N22.80 per share.

The stock price of Deapcap advanced by 9.84 per cent to N0.67 per share, while SCOA gained 9.63 per cent to close at N1.48 per share. Among the top gainers was Infinity rose by 9.60 per cent to close at N1.94 per share.

RT Briscoe tops the loser chart, dropping 9.68 per cent to close at N0.56 per share, as NSLTECH declined by 9.33 per cent to close at N0.68 per share. NEM Insurance was down by 9.32 per cent to N5.35 per share as NNFM shed 8.44 per cent to close at N34.25 per share.

Among the top five losers was UPDcreit declined by eight per cent to close N4.60 per share.

On the stock market performance this week, analysts at Cordros Research said, “We expect the market to remain mixed in the coming week as investors cherry-pick counters given the absence of any significant positive catalysts.

“Overall, we reiterate the need for investors to seek positions in only fundamentally justified stocks as the weak macro environment remains a significant headwind for corporate earnings.”