NSE LIVE! Equities open with N10bn gain amidst profit-taking

After rallying net capital gain of N520 billion in November, Nigerian equities came under sell pressure induced by profit-taking in the first trading session of December, continuing rally within the high-cap stocks sustained the positive overall market position.

With 25 decliners to 19 advancers, gains by large-cap stocks such as Dangote Cement, Nigerian Breweries and Nestle Nigeria boosted the overall market position with a net capital gain of N10 billion. Average day-on-day return stood at a modest 0.08 per cent.

Average year-to-date return for the Nigerian equities market closed higher on Monday at 41.30 per cent.

Nestle Nigeria-Nigeria’s highest-priced stock, led the advancers with a gain of N15.11 to close at N1,330.11. Seplat Petroleum Development Company followed with a gain of N3 to close at N498. Total Nigeria added N2 to close at N240. Nigerian Breweries-the second most capitalised company at the stock market, rallied N1.20 to close at N133.50. Cadbury Nigeria rose by N1.31 to close at N14.25. Dangote Cement-the most capitalised quoted company, chalked up 80 kobo to close at N245.80 while Dangote Flour Mills rose by 33 kobo to close at N10.63 per share.

Read also: Equities’ return hits 40.32% amidst sustained rally

On the downside, 11-formerly Mobil Oil Nigeria, led the decliners with a loss of N7.44 to close at N152.21. Guinness Nigeria followed with a loss of N4.87 to close at N92.64. Forte Oil dropped by N1 to close at N44.99. UAC of Nigeria lost 50 kobo to close at N17. Cement Company of Northern Nigeria declined by 48 kobo to close at N9.39 while Guaranty Trust Bank dipped by 30 kobo to close at N42.70 per share.

Total turnover stood at 500.19 million shares valued at N6.36 billion in 4,966 deals. The most active stocks were Custodian and Allied, with 70 million shares; FBN Holdings, 56.86 million shares and Zenith Bank, which recorded turnover of 55.62 million shares.

“While we attribute the day’s gain to buying interest in some large cap stocks, we however observed profit taking in mid and small- cap stocks which had rallied in recent days. Nevertheless, we expect market performance to be determined by year-end rebalancing by institutional investors,” Afrinvest Securities stated.

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