Nigerian Equities Market Rebounds, Index Rises 0.44%

The Nigerian equities market wednesday recorded its first gain in the week following bargain hunting and appreciation posted by Dangote Cement Plc. The market declined in the first two trading days of the week, falling by 1.15 per cent on Tuesday.

However, the market rebounded wednesday with the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All-Share Index appreciating by 0.44 per cent to close at 35,103.40, while market capitalisation added N52.1 billion to close higher at N12.05 trillion.
It was tight contest between the bulls and bears as the market recorded 24 price gainers and 22 price losers. However, the gains posted Dangote Cement Plc, Nestle Nigeria Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, Transcorp Plc and Stanbic IBTC Holdings lifted the market to close in green.

“We attribute the gains recorded in the market to the positive sentiments in the industrial goods space, specifically on Dangote Cement. Despite the positivity in the general market, we note that the market would have lost 0.18 per cent Ex-Dangote Cement,” analysts at Meristem Securities said.

However, the Champion Breweries Plc led the overall price gainers’ chart with 8.1 per cent, trailed by Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals Plc with 4.6 per cent, while Linkage Assurance Plc and Fidson Healthcare Plc went up by 4.5 per cent apiece. C&I Leasing Plc and NEM Insurance Plc chalked up 4.3 per cent, just as Jaiz Bank Plc and Learn Africa Plc garnered 4.2 and 4.1 per cent respectively among others.

Conversely, Morison Industries Plc led the price losers, declining by 8.3 per cent. UACN Property Development Company Plc shed 5.0 per cent, while University Press Plc closed 4.8 per cent lower. Caverton fall by 4.5 per cent, just as A.G Leventis Nigeria Plc, May & Baker Nigeria Plc and First Aluminium Plc shed 4.4 per cent, 4.3 per cent and 3.8 per cent in that order.
Meanwhile, investors traded 136.4 million shares worth N3.62 billion in 2,860 deals. The three most actively traded sectors were: Financial Services (97 million shares), Industrial Goods (21.13 million shares), and Consumer Goods (6.32 million shares), while the three most actively traded stocks were: Jaiz Bank (35.85 million shares), Meyer (20 million shares) and FBN Holdings (6.68 million shares).

In terms of sectoral performance, the NSE Industrial Goods Index led with 0.8 per cent. Similarly, the NSE Insurance Index went up by 0.7 per cent. On the downside, the NSE Oil & Gas Index shed 0.3 per cent, followed by the NSE Consumer Goods Index and NSE Banking Index that fell 0.2 per cent each.

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