Equities market resumes March with N69bn gain
By Kayode Tokede
Activities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) commenced the week and month on Monday on a bullish trend, following uptick in BUA Cement Plc, Zenith Bank Plc and United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA).
Specifically, the market capitalisation increased by N65 billion or 0.33 per cent to close at N20.892 trillion from N20.823 trillion posted on Friday.
Also, the NSE All-Share Index which opened the month of March at 39,799.89 basis points rose by 131.74 basis points or 0.33 per cent to close at 39,931.63 basis points.
Sector performances showed that while Industrial (+1.47 per cent) and Banking (+0.25 per cent) sectors both closed in the green, Consumer Goods (-0.48 per cent) and Oil & Gas (-0.10 per cent) sectors closed negatively.
Consequently, the month-to-date return settled at 0.3 per cent, while the year-to-date loss moderated to 0.8 per cent.
The uptrend was also driven by price appreciation in medium and large capitalised stocks amongst which are: UACN, AIICO Insurance, Veritas Kapital Assurance, BUA Cement and Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals.
Analysts at Afrinvest expected that earnings released and dividends declaration would influence trading activity in spite of weak investor sentiment.
UACN dominated the gainers’ chart in percentage terms with 6.67 per cent to close at N8 per share.
AIICO Insurance followed with 5.22 per cent to close at N1.21, while Veritas Kapital Assurance rose by five per cent to close at 21k per share.
BUA Cement rose by 3.82 per cent to close at N74.75, while Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals appreciated by 2.73 per cent to close at N1.88 per share.
On the other hand, NASCON led the losers’ chart in percentage terms, losing 9.97 per cent to close at N14.45 per share.
Champion Breweries followed with 9.92 per cent to close at N2.27, while PZ Cussons shed 9.43 per cent to close at N4.80 per share.
Lasaco Assurance lost 8.94 per cent to close at N1.12, while Royal Exchange and Sovereign Trust Insurance depreciated by 7.41 per cent each to close at 25k per share each.
Also, the total volume of trades increased by 7.2 per cent to 543.99 million shares valued at N1.89 billion exchanged in 4,673 deals.
This was in contrast with a total of 507.25 million shares worth N2.44 billion traded in 4,465 deals on Friday.
Transactions in the shares of Wema Bank topped the activity chart with 369.68 million shares valued at N240.32 million.
Zenith Bank followed with 20.62 million shares worth N529.07 million, while Transcorp traded 13.02 million shares worth N11.48 million.
UBA traded 11.93 million shares valued at N98.65 million, while United Capital transacted 11.33 million shares worth N69.19 million.
Analysts at Investment One research stated that, “The equities market closed up today due to the gains recorded in the Industrial and Banking sectors.
“Going forward, we expect investor’s sentiments to be swayed by the search for real positive returns and developments in the interest rate space.
“We reiterate that this may be a great period to pick up some quality names with a medium to long-term investment horizon.”
