NSE ASI sustains positive trend into the month of May…..records 0.09% gain

 

The Nigerian equities market began the month of May on a bullish note as All Share Index inched higher for the third consecutive session by 0.09 percent to 41,306.02 points, following interest in value stocks, as well as positive reaction to corporate earnings.
Accordingly, investors wealth increased as market capitalization rose by N13.7 billion to close at N14.9 trillion. Other drivers of today’s performance were UBN (+4.0 percent), 11 Plc (+9.6 percent) and UBA (+1.3 percent). Activity level, however, was mixed as volume traded declined by 38.7 percent to 276.2 million while value traded trended up 38.9 percent to N6.9 billion. Today’s top traded stocks by volume were UBA (52.3 million), Guaranty Trust Bank (42.3 million) and Zenith Bank (30.1 million) while top traded stocks by value were Dangote Cement (N2.1 billion), Guaranty Trust Bank (N1.9 billion) and Zenith Bank (N832.4 million).
Sector performance was bullish as 3 of 5 indices under our coverage closed up. The Oil & Gas index led gainers up 1.2 percent due to gains in 11 Plc (+9.6 percent). The Banking index trailed as price appreciation in UBN (+4.0 percent) and UBA (+1.3 percent) drove the index higher by 0.6 percent while buying interest in Dangote Cement (+0.8 percent) pushed the Industrial Goods index northwards by 0.3 percent. On the other hand, the Consumer Goods index led laggards as losses in Nestle Nigeria (-1.8 percent) and Nigerian Breweries (-0.7 percent) dragged the index lower by 1.1 percent. The insurance index also closed in the red losing 59 basis points as sell-offs in Continental Reinsurance (-2.6 percent) and Wapic Insurance (-3.6 percent) pulled the index southwards.
Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) strengthened from 1.1x to 1.5x as 23 stocks gained against 15 stocks that declined. The top gainers for the day were 11 Plc (+9.6 percent), Wema Bank (+9.5 percent) and C&I Leasing (9.2 percent) while Dangote Flour (-9.4 percent), Cadbury Nigeria (-4.7 percent) and Prestige Assurance (-3.9 percent) led the laggards.