Equity investors gained N66.956 billion on the Nigerian Bourse on Wednesday, as the positive rally extended to the fourth day at a higher rate with improved investor sentiment and activity level, sending YTD loss to less than 4 percent.
The rise resulted from buying pressures on bellwether stocks such as SEPLAT (+3.90%), NB (+3.57%), ZENITH (+1.8%), MTNN (+0.73%), MOBIL (+0.31%) among others.
The All-Share Index closed 0.50% up at 25,783.02 a higher rate than 0.31% rise the index recorded on Tuesday, while the market capitalization settled at N13.475 trillion.
YTD return moderated to -3.95%
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Activity level
The activity level intensified with volume and value of transactions jumping by 58.05% and 42.74% respectively to 414.161 million and N6.280 billion.
MTNN accounted for 49.78% of the total value of traded shares although it represents just 6.20% of the total volume.
Four out of the top five traded equities by volume were banking stocks. The most traded equity by volume was STERLNBANK, with 85.205 million shares valued at N97.987 million traded in just 49 deals. It was followed by FBNH with 82.744 million shares and ACCESS with 58.205 million shares.
In terms of value, MTNN maintained the lead with 25.717 million shares valued at N3.126 billion traded in 134 deals. It was followed by GUARANTY with 19.082 million shares worth N489.359 million and ZENITHBANK with 28.454 million shares worth N480.210 million.
Performance of Indices
All five indices under our watch recorded gains, contrary to what was seen on Tuesday, with the Oil and Gas Index exhibiting the best performance. Below are the performances of the five indices;
- The Oil and Gas Index rose by 2.02%
- Consumer Goods Index grew by 1.35%
- The Insurance Index increased by 1.09%
- The Banking Index was up by 0.65%
- The Industrial Goods Index advanced by 0.09%
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Investor sentiment
Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (gain/loss ratio) improved to 1.50x, as 21 stocks advanced with 14 declining.
The top five gainers by percentage and closing prices are;
- INTBREW rose by 9.09% to close at N3.60
- PRESTIGE rose by 9.09% to close at N0.60
- CORNEST rose by 8.33% to close at N0.65
- UAC-PROP rose by 5.26% to close at N1.00
- SEPLAT rose by 3.90% to close at N400.00
The top five decliners by percentage are;
- ABCTRANS lost 9.09% to close at N0.30
- ROYALEX lost 6.90% to close at N0.27
- ETERNA lost 6.72% to close at N2.50
- NPFMCRFBK lost 6.15% to close at N1.22
- AIICO lost 3.37% to close at N0.86
Naira value fell to N367/$1 on Wednesday from N365/$1 exchanged on Tuesday at the parallel market.
Oil prices declined, with Brent crude futures trading at $41.89 per barrel and WTI at $39.47 per barrel.
Nigeria Bonny Light stood at $41.46 per barrel.
Written by;
Ifunanya Ikueze
