Stock market kicks off trading week on a positive note, gains 0.41%
Kayode Ogunwale

 

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) today extended gains from the previous week as buying interest in Nestle Nigeria (+1.8 percent), Zenith Bank (+1.5 percent) and Unilever Nigeria (+3.9 percent) buoyed market performance pushing the All Share Index (ASI) up 14 basis points to close at 40,987.77 points while year to date return also inched higher to 7.2 percent. Consequently, investors gained N21.4 billion as market capitalization rose to N14.8 trillion. Activity level strengthened as volume and value of shares traded increased by 15.2 percent and 53.3 percent to 192.5 million units and N3.1 billion respectively. The top traded stocks by volume were Guaranty Trust Bank (37.6 million), Japaul Oil (21.4 million) and Fidelity Bank (13.2 million) while the top traded stocks by value were Guaranty Trust Bank (N1.7 billion), Zenith Bank (N293.2 million) and Nigerian Breweries (N158.2 million).
Performance across sectors was mixed as 3 of 5 indices under our coverage closed in the green. The Industrial Goods index led gainers, up 0.5 percent due to gains in WAPCO (+1.1 percent). The Banking and Insurance indices followed, rising 0.3 percent and 0.2 percent respectively on the back of bargain hunting in Zenith Bank (+1.5 percent), UBA (+1.9 percent) and NEM Insurance (+5.0 percent). On the flip side, the Oil & Gas index was the lone decliner, down 0.7 percent as profit taking in 11 Plc (-5.0 percent) dragged the index. The Consumer Goods index closed flat.
Investor sentiment measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) weakened to 1.3x from 1.5x recorded last Friday, as 28 stocks advanced against 21 stocks that declined. Skye Bank (+10.0 percent), Oando (+9.4 percent) and Jaiz Bank (+8.5 percent) were today’s best performers while UAC Property (-7.9 percent), 11 Plc (-5.0 percent) and Vitafoam (-4.8 percent) declined the most.