Stock market reopens bullish, index rises marginally by 0.2%

As the coast becomes clearer following last week’s emergence of candidates for various offices at the party level, activities in the equities sector of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) witnessed some level of stability at the end of transactions yesterday, causing the All-share index to appreciate marginally by 0.2 per cent.

Specifically, at the close of transactions yesterday, the All –Share Index rose by 61.81 absolute points, representing 0.19 per cent increase to close at 32,444.96 points. Similarly, market capitalisation rose by N23 billion to close at N11.844 trillion.

The improved performance was significantly impacted by gains recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Stanbic IBTC Holdings, Conoil, Nigerian Breweries, Zenith Bank and NEM Insurance.

Analysts at Investdata Consulting Limited said: “We believe investors can take advantage of the current low prices of stocks with strong fundamentals in order to reap medium-to-long term benefits. Stage by stage buying is advised as we expect inflation figure for September in the new week.


“There could be repositioning on the strength of earnings in the midst of unfolding events in the political environment. Investors should review their positions in line with their investment goals and take action as events unfolds in the global and domestic environment.”Afrinvest Limited said: “the local bourse opened the trading week on a positive note as bargain hunting in bellwethers.”

Market breadth was positive, with 16 gainers versus 11 losers. Unity Bank recorded the highest price gain of 9.09 per cent, to close at 96 kobo per share. Neimeth followed with a gain of 8.47 per cent to close at 64 kobo, while Mutual Benefit Assurance gained by 7.69 per cent to close at 28 kobo per share. Caverton went up by 7.61 per cent to close at N1.98, while NEM Insurance appreciated by 5.42 per cent to close at N3.11 per share.

On the other hand, John Holts led the losers’ chart by 9.43 per cent, to close at 48 kobo per share. Guinea Insurance followed with a loss of 9.38 per cent to close at 29 kobo, while AIICO Insurance shed 6.02 per cent to close at 78 kobo per share.

Presco depreciated by 5.66 per cent to close at N53.35 and Japaul Oil and Maritime Services declined by 4.17 per cent to close at 23 kobo per share.
Activity level, however, weakened as volume and value traded declined by 27.6 per cent and 9.9 per cent respectively to 120.82 million units and N1.34 billion.

Transactions in the shares of Guaranty Trust Bank topped the activity chart with 21.6 million shares worth N788.57 million.FCMB Groups followed with account of 21.37 million shares valued at N36.62 million; while NEM Insurance traded 11.17 million shares cost N33.1 million.Fidelity Bank traded 7.88 million shares valued at N14.32 million, while Zenith Bank sold 5.78 million shares worth N125.75 million.