With the upward trend in global oil prices, investors are building positive sentiments around oil, thereby ensuring that the oil and gas sector on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited grew by N145.734 billion in the first nine months of the year.
The gain was triggered by the gains in the share prices of Seplat Energy, Eterna and Oando Plc.
Market observers said the current global oil trend suggests that the increase in the average Brent prices would translate to an increase in revenue for oil companies which should also reflect in the earnings per share.
Also, the Oil & Gas Index recorded the highest positive movement to reflect a growth of 62.37 per cent for the year-to-date (YTD) as of September 30, 2021. NGX Premium index followed with a gain of 117.27 per cent, while NGX Pension index rose by 11.79 per cent.
The NGX Oil & Gas Index comprises nine listed Oil and Gas Marketing companies: Ardova Plc, Conoil Plc, Eterna, Japaul Gold and Ventures, MRS Oil Nigeria, Oando, Seplat Energy, Total Nigeria and Capital Oil.
Capital market analysts said the growth in the NGX Oil & Gas Index was spurred by gains in the share prices of Seplat Energy, Eterna and Oando.
According to them, Seplat Energy, being one of the major players in the Nigerian upstream sector, the company’s share price has seen an impressive gain of 76.49 per cent from N402.3 in January to N710.00 as of September 30, 2021.
“Eterna Plc began the year with a share price of N5.10 and has since gained 37.25 per cent to close the trading day on September 30, 2021 at N7.00. The company deals in the manufacture, marketing and distribution of chemicals and lubricants and in Q1 2021, recorded a 171.02 per cent growth in net profit from negative N358.28 million to N254.45 million which contributed to the positive sentiment around the stock, while investors renewed their interest in Oando shares following the recent settlement of the Company’s four-year rift with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).”
They added that investors can expect to see a boost in the price of Seplat Energy shares and, consequently, in the NGX Oil & Gas Index if the upward trend in global Brent prices continues.
The chief operating officer of InvestData Consulting Limited, Mr Ambrose Omordion said despite that local equities benchmark index closed in negative zone of 0.12 per cent in the first nine months of the year, […]