The Nigerian stock market, yesterday traded marginally higher in the first session of this week as bargain-hunting in Julius Berger Plc and 23 others spurred a N9 billion increase in the overall capitalisation.
Accordingly, the All Share Index (ASI) gained by 16.67 points, representing a growth of 0.03 per cent to close at 52,231.29 points. Also, market capitalisation gained N9 billion to close at N28.440 trillion.
The upturn was impacted by gains recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Julius Berger, Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO), Vitafoam Nigeria, Oando and NCR Nigeria.
This week, United Capital Plc, recommended a cautious approach toward the Nigerian equities market.
According to United Capital, we expect bullish sentiments to linger, with plenty room for profit taking. Technically, stocks that are overbought in the equities market often tend to retrace to a support.
“For Equity vested managers/investors, switching to defensive stocks with high dividend performance will be a choice strategy. Our expectation for an upward reversal of the yield curve remains a strong downside for the equities market in the short-term. Also, political risks will remain a high, encouraging risk-off sentiments,” United Capital pointed out.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive, as 24 stocks gained relative to 19 losers. Oando recorded the highest price gain of 9.91 per cent to close at N6.10, per share. NCR Nigeria followed with a gain of 9.77 per cent to close at N2.81, while Transnational Corporations (Transcorp) rose by 9.65 per cent to close at N2.84, per share.
Ikeja Hotel went up by 9.62 per cent to close at N1.71, while Julius Berger appreciated by 8.77 per cent to close at N31.00, per share. On the other hand, CWG led the losers’ chart by 9.66 per cent, to close at N1.87, per share. NEM Insurance followed with a decline of 9.45 per cent to close at N4.12, while Royal Exchange declined by 7.41 per cent to close at 50 kobo, per share.
Cutix depreciated by 4.13 per cent to close at N2.32, while AIICO Insurance declined by 3.39 per cent to close at 57 kobo, per share.
The total volume traded declined by 55.8 per cent to 626.390 million units, valued at N5.60 billion, and exchanged in 6,033 deals.
Transactions in the shares of Transcorp topped the activity chart with 190.852 million shares valued at N530.825 million. Access Holdings followed with 125.058 million shares worth N1.246 billion, while FBN Holdings (FBNH) traded 79.706 million shares valued at N956.476 million.
United Bank for Africa (UBA) traded 39.104 million shares valued at N324.297 million, while Royal Exchange sold 27.930 million shares worth N14.214 million.
