Equities market ends in a bullish trend with N708.18bn gain on Tuesday

*To drive market cap passes N15trn mark

The key market indices of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Tuesday rallied to the all-time high, appreciating by 4.92 per cent.

Specifically, the market capitalisation which opened at N14.402 trillion rose by N708.18 billion to close at N15.110 trillion.

Also, the All-Share Index rose by 1,354.88 or 4.92 per cent to close at 28,909.37 basis points against 27,554.49 basis points on Monday.

Sector performances were broadly positive today as the Banking (+7.48 per cent), Industrial (+5.64 per cent), Consumer Goods (+2.95 per cent) and Oil & Gas (+1.15 per cent) sectors all closed in the green.

The uptrend was impacted by gains recorded in large and medium capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Dangote Cement, MTN Nigeria Communication, Presco, Nigerian Breweries and Stanbic IBTC Holdings.

Consequently, the market breadth closed positive with 45 gainers compared with eight losers.

Cornerstone Insurance, International Breweries and Presco led the gainers’ chart in percentage terms, with 10 per cent each, to close at 66k, N4.29 and N60.50 per share, respectively.

FBN Holdings followed with 9.91 per cent to close at N6.10, while Northern Nigeria Flour Mills rose by 9.88 per cent to close at N4.45 per share.

Dangote Cement gained 9.86 per cent to close at N158.20, while Lafarge Africa appreciated by 9.69 per cent to close at N17.55 per share.

Conversely, NPF Microfinance Bank led the laggards’ chart in percentage terms, losing 8.76 per cent to close at N1.25 per share.

Wapic Insurance lost 7.69 per cent to close at 36k, while Academy Press dipped 6.90 per cent to close at 27k per share.

Berger Paints dropped 6.15 per cent to close at N6.10, while Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals shed 5.13 per cent each to close at N1.85 per share.

Transactions in the shares of Zenith Bank topped the activity chart, accounting 135.69 million shares valued at N2.77 billion.

United Bank for Africa followed with 112.89 million shares worth N768.18 million, while FBN Holdings traded 89.91million shares valued at N544.41 million.

Access Bank sold 56.03 million shares worth N426.27 million, while Guaranty Trust Bank transacted 40.06 million shares valued at N1.22 billion.

In all, the total volume of shares traded rose by 24.1 per cent with an exchange of 749.47 million shares, worth N9.49 billion traded in 8,075 deals.

This was in contrast with 603.95 million shares valued at N7.42 billion transacted in 5,984 deals on Monday.

The Chief Operating Officer, InvestData Ltd., Mr Ambrose Omordion said that low interest and undervalued state of the stock market had triggered an inflow of funds to blue-chip and growth stocks in search of better return in a hyperinflation environment.

Omordion said the possibility of oil prices sustaining uptrend in the last quarter of the year, being the most active period in the world, contributed to the trend.

He said that the trend was likely to persist until third-quarter numbers started hitting the market.

Analysts at InvestmentOne Research said, “The equities market closed up today on the back of the gains recorded in major sectors.

“Going forward, we expect investor’s sentiments to be swayed by the search for real positive returns amidst a low-interest-rate environment.

“Nonetheless, we reiterate that this may be a great period to pick up some quality names with a medium to the long term investment horizon.”