Equities market sustains gain by 1.25%

The equities market of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) remained upbeat on Thursday for four consecutive days, with the key performance indicators improving further by 1.25 per cent.

Consequently, the All-Share Index which opened at 24,452.23 rose by 306.16 points or 1.25 per cent to close at 24,758.39.

Also, the market capitalisation grew by N159 billion or 1.25 per cent to close at N12.902 trillion compared with N12.743 trillion recorded on Wednesday.

The uptrend was impacted by gains recorded in large and medium capitalised stocks, amongst which are: Mobil, BUA Cement, Unilever, Guinness Nigeria and Zenith Bank.

Experts at United Capital Plc attributed the market rally to recovery in share prices driven by rebalancing in the oil market which resulted in 94 per cent rebound in oil prices from 18 dollars per barrel to about 35 dollars per barrel within a month.

They also attributed the rally to increasing indications that governments around the world would reopen their economies regardless of the anxiety around COVID-19.

They said the cheap market valuation of high-quality stocks; sustained dividend declaration by corporates, translating into attractive dividend yield amid poor rates on T-bills and sizable market liquidity contributed to the market rally.

The market closed positively with 29 gainers and nine losers.

Sunu Assurances dominated the gainers’ trend in percentage terms, increasing by 10 per cent, to close at 22k, per share.

Red Star Express followed with a gain of 9.97 per cent to close at N3.75, while Mobil rose by 9.95 per cent to close at N194.50, per share.

BUA Cement garnered 9.88 per cent to close at N35.60, while Cutix appreciated by 9.40 per cent to close at N1.63, per share.

Conversely, Arbico Plc led the losers’ chart in percentage terms, dropping by 9.91 per cent, to close at N2.09, per share.

Oando dipped 5.76 per cent to close at N2,62, while Flour Mills lost 4.76 per cent to close at N20, per share.

NPF Micro Finance Bank declined by 3.55 per cent to close at N1.90, while Union Diagnostic and Jaiz Bank shed 3.33 per cent each, to close at 29k and 58k, per share respectively.

However, the total volume traded declined by 19.70 per cent with an exchange of 350.77 million shares, worth N3.71 billion traded in 5,239 deals.