Equities Market Opens Positive, Up By N144bn

The Nigerian equities market opened the week positively as demand for Okomu Oil Plc and 31 others drove the market higher by N144 billion.

The All-Share Index rose by 264.89 per cent, representing a gain of 0.41 per cent, to close at 65,268.28 points. Similarly, the overall market capitalisation value gained N144 billion to close at N35.539 trillion.

The market positive performance was driven by price appreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks which are; Okomu Oil, Stanbic IBTC Holdings, NASCON Allied Industries, FBN Holdings (FBNH) and Skyway Aviation Handling Company.

This week, analysts at United Capital Plc, said: “we expect increased activities on the floor of the exchange, in terms of volume and value traded. This expectation is hinged on the prevailing investors’ sentiment toward listed corporates, particularly the Banks, which has been positive since the new FG administration took charge, on the back of the favourable policies that were introduced (particularly positive for foreign investors).

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“The depressed interest rate environment is also a strong basis for our expectations. For equity-vested stakeholders, taking positions this week is still in order, in anticipation of the H1, 2023 earnings season.”

As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was mixed, as 33 stocks lost relative to 32 gainers. FTN Cocoa processors, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria, Lasaco Assurance and NASCON Allied Industries recorded the highest price gain of 10 per cent each to close at N2.20, N8.25, N1.76 and N31.90 respectively, per share. Stanbic IBTC Holdings followed with a gain of 9.97 per cent to close at N68.95 and Skyway Aviation Handling Company up by 9.88 per cent to close at N17.80, per share.

On the other hand, Ikeja Hotel led the losers’ chart by 10 per cent to close at N2.70, per share. Multiverse Mining and Exploration followed with a decline of 9.97 per cent to close at N3.34, while Ellah Lakes lost 9.86 per cent to close at N3.93, per share.  Abbey Mortgage Bank declined 9.82 per cent to close at N1.01, while Thomas Wyatt Nigeria shed 9.55 per cent to close at N1.42, per share.

The total volume traded increased by 7.9 per cent to 831.50 million units, valued at N12.94 billion, and exchanged in 9,768 deals.