NSE LIVE! Equities regain rally with N193bn gain

After three consecutive weeks of negative overhang, quoted equities opened this week with a strong rally as bargain-hunters scurried to close deals in expectation of first quarter earnings of companies.

With nearly two advancers for every decliner, benchmark indices at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) indicated average gain of 2.21 per cent on Monday, equivalent to net capital gain of N193 billion.

The rally came on the background of increasing inflow of the first quarter earnings of quoted companies. Not less than six companies released their three-month results on Monday including Lafarge Africa and Stanbic IBTC Holdings, two companies that made the top gainers’ list.

Most quoted companies are expected to submit their first quarter 2017 results this week, according to extant rules at the Exchange. Post-listing rules require quoted companies to submit their quarterly results not later than 30 days after the end of the quarter.

Aggregate market value of all quoted companies rode on the back of strong rallies in the industrial domestics, banking and consumer goods sectors to close the five-hour trading session at N8.909 trillion as against its opening value of N8.716 trillion.

The All Share Index (ASI), the main index for the stock market, rose from 25,189.37 points to close at 25,747.05 points. The strong gain moderated the negative average year-to-date return to -4.20 per cent.

Sectoral indices also showed a largely positive market situation. The NSE Industrial Goods Index jumped by 6.3 per cent. The NSE Banking Index rose by 3.0 per cent while the NSE Oil & Gas Index inched up by 0.1 per cent. On the negative side, the NSE Insurance Index declined by 0.2 per cent while the NSE Consumer Goods Index slipped by 0.04 per cent.

There were 18 gainers to 11 losers. Cement companies led the rally as Dangote Cement, the most capitalised stock, notched N6 gain to close at N165. Lafarge Africa followed with a gain of N4.71 to close at N50.71. Seven-Up Bottling Company rose by N4 to close at N93.95.

Nigerian Breweries gathered N3.39 to close at N123.50. Stanbic IBTC Holdings added N1.02 to close at N21.49. Guaranty Trust Bank chalked up 89 kobo to close at N25.70. Forte Oil garnered 50 kobo to close at N45. Ecobank Transnational Incorporated and UAC of Nigeria rose by 35 kobo each to close at N7.45 and N14.50 respectively while Zenith Bank added 30 kobo to close at N14.80 per share.

Total turnover stood at 211.75 million shares valued at N1.41 billion in 3,054 deals. The most active stock was Diamond Bank with a turnover of 49.98 million shares valued at N46.71 million. Transnational Corporation of Nigeria followed with 34.7 million shares worth N36.24 million while Fidelity Bank ranked third with 28.47 million shares valued at N23.35 million.

On the downside, Nestle Nigeria led the losers with a loss of N36.80 to close at N713.50. Okomu Oil Palm followed with a loss of 90 kobo to close at N46.60. Nascon Allied Industries declined by 38 kobo to close at N7.36. Portland Paints and Products Nigeria and Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (Nahco) slipped by 7.0 kobo to close at N1.82 and N2.45 while NPF Microfinance Bank and May & Baker Nigeria dropped by 5.0 kobo each to close at N1.12 and 85 kobo respectively.

Market analysts attributed the strong rally to the positive sentiments from the launch of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s investors and exporters foreign exchange window, which is expected to boost the inflow of portfolio investments as well as positive earnings releases which trickled in during the trading session.

“We expect this positive sentiment to be sustained in subsequent trading sessions,” Afrinvest Securities stated.

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