Nigerian Bourse Sustains Uptrend …NSE ASI up 1.1%

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigerian equities sustained gains observed yesterday as the All Share Index further strengthened 1.1%, trimming YTD loss to 4.2%. The performance was largely driven by rebound in the prices of DANGCEM (+2.2%) and GUARANTY (+2.0%) as well as further appreciation in WAPCO (+5.0%) and 7UP(+9.4%). Consequently, market capitalization improved N98.1bn to settle at N8.9tn. Activity level also improved as volume and value traded increased 52.2% and 32.2% to 241.6m units and N1.5bn with a total of 3,339 deals.

Bullish Performance across Sectors
Similar to the previous trading day, the performance by sector closed bullish as all indices appreciated. The Industrial Goods index recorded the highest gain (+3.2%) on account of renewed buying interest in DANGCEM (+2.2%) and WAPCO (+5.0%). The Oil & Gas index followed, up 1.4% on the back of a sustained rally in OANDO (+7.3%) and MOBIL (+3.7%) while GUARANTY (+2.0%) and CONTINSURE (+4.3%) pushed the Banking and Insurance indices 0.5% higher apiece. Similarly, the Consumer Goods index added 0.4% driven by gains in 7UP (+9.4%) and DANGFLOUR (+9.8%).

Investor Sentiment Remains Positive
Investor sentiment stayed positive as market breadth settled at 1.1x albeit lower than 1.6x recorded yesterday. A total of 19 stocks advanced against 17 declining stocks. The best performing stocks today were DANGFLOUR (+9.8%), 7UP (+9.4%) and LEARNAFRICA (+7.5%) while CONOIL (-5.0%) ,MAYBAKER (-3.3%) and UCAP (-3.0%) declined the most. As expected, the attractive prices of some value stocks prompted buying interest by short-term investors. We expect the market to trade sideways in subsequent sessions.

Source: Afrinvestor Research Website