Equity market maintained upward trend on Wednesday as investors gained N94.205 billion on the Floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, due to the gains in the share prices of Lafarge (+10.00%), JBerger(+9.90%), Guaranty, (+6.89%) among others.
The All Share Index (ASI) rose by 0.75% to close at 24,278.07 from 24,097.48 on Tuesday, with the Market Capitalization rising to N12.665 trillion on Wednesday from N12.571 trillion the previous day.
The volume and value of shares traded increased significantly on Wednesday by 49.56% and 80.65% respectively, whereas the number deals declined by 13.23% compared to Tuesday values.
232,609,049 units of shares valued at N4,698,272,125.17 exchanged hands in 3,523 deals on Wednesday, compared to 155,529,293 units of shares worth N2,600,805,915.79 traded in 4,060 deals on Tuesday.
The shares of Fidelity was the most traded by volume, with 37,950,489 units of shares valued at N67,224,999.79 exchanging hands in 96 deals.
In terms of value, the shares of MTNN took the lead again, with 27,969,987 units of shares worth N3,217,773,697.20 traded in 146 deals.
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Three of the indices under our watch advanced. The Banking Index rose by 3.41% to close at 283.44 due to combined gains in the FUGAZ, FCMB, Fidelity among others. This is fourth consecutive rise in the Index.
Insurance Index, grew by 1.10% to close at 125.68 mainly due to 9.30% rise in the share price of Linkassure, 9.09% increase in Regallins and 8.51% growth in share price of Prestige among others.
The Industrial Goods Index grew for the second consecutive day. The Index rose by 0.12% to close at 1,094.11, while the Consumer Goods Index recorded its third consecutive decline. It dropped by 0.21% to close at 414.11.
Oil and Gas Index recorded its fourth consecutive decline. The Index dropped by 0.18% to close at 195.75, dragged by 4.40% and 2.17% loss in the share prices of Caverton and Oando respectively.
Investor sentiment was strong at 3.14x compared to 0.94x on Tuesday. 25 equities advanced in prices while 8 declined on Wednesday compared to 17 equities which advanced on Tuesday with 18 declining.
Top five gainers by percentage with the closing prices are; Lafarge/Wapco (10.00%; N11.00), JBerger (9.90%; N17.20), Linkassure (9.30%; N0.47), Regalins (9.09%; N0.24) and Redstarex (8.90%;N3.55)
Top five decliners by percentage are; Berger (-9.63%; N6.10), Caverton (-4.40%;N1.74), ETI (-4.17%; N4.60), Flourmill (-2.70%; N18.00) and Oando (-2.17%; N2.25)
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Analysts’ view at Investogist; Despite the upward movement on Wednesday, we still maintain our negative outlook to the market in the short and medium term.
The impact of Covid-19 on the listed companies is expected to reflect on the first half financial reports. Several companies including Bua Cement, Mobil (11 Plc), Dangote, Lafarge, Seplat, Guaranty, Zenith among others has announced closed period for H1 financial statements.
Written by;
Ifunanya Ikueze
