Stocks Record N29bn Boost In New Week Amid Broad Sector Gains

The local stock market yesterday opened this week’s trading on a positive trajectory, as buying interest in Lafarge Africa Plc and 35 others pushed the market up by N29 billion.

The All-Share Index (ASI) gained 226.99 points, representing a gain of 0.23 per cent to close at 97,733.86 points. Also, market capitalisation rose by N29 billion to close at N59.245 trillion.

The upturn was driven by price appreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks amongst which are; Lafarge Africa, VDF Group, PZ Cussons Nigeria, Eterna and Nigerian Breweries.

Looking forward, United Capital Plc said “the equities market is expected to retain its buy interest as investors cherry-pick undervalued stocks. However, given the high interest rates in the fixed income and money markets, we expect some bearish undertone to persist in the equities market as fixed income biased investors take advantage of the high yields in the fixed income space.

“Nevertheless, the bulls will remain incentivized to persist in bargain hunting, given the tremendous mid-long-term opportunities in the equities market.”

As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive, as 36 stocks gained relative to 25 losers. Abbey Mortgage Bank, Africa Prudential and Lafarge Africa emerged the highest price gainer of 10 per cent each to close at N2.64, N9.90 and N63.80 respectively, per share. VFD Group followed with a gain of 9.88 per cent to close at N44.50, while Sovereign Trust Insurance advanced by 9.95 per cent to close at 80 kobo, per share.

On the other side, eTranzact International led others on the losers’ chart with 10 per cent to close at N6.75, per share. NCR Nigeria followed with a decline of 9.92 per cent to close at N4.27, while FTN Cocoa Processors shed 8.29 per cent to close at N1.77, per share.

Honeywell Flour Mills lost 5.92 per cent to close at N4.45, while NPF Microfinance Bank depreciated by 4.46 per cent to close at N1.50, per share.

The total volume traded declined by 13.45 per cent to 451.165 million units, valued at N10.150 billion, and exchanged in 9,329 deals. Transactions in the shares of Japaul Gold & Ventures led the activity with 72.034 million shares worth N161.801 million. United Bank for Africa (UBA) followed with an account of 67.868 million shares valued at N2.234 billion, while Access Holdings traded 53.627 million shares valued at N1.246 billion.