By Charles Abuede Market capitalisation increased by N140 billion to N18.6 trillion
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With the equities market continuing to show a bullish trend so far this week, investors believe the current development might lead up to a consolidation phase in subsequent trading days, which could then lead to a temporal reversal at the end of the week. The expectation is, therefore, that the equities market maintains a bullish performance, given current stock prices, which appear to offer attractive investment opportunities to investors.
Today, Wednesday December 16, the market gained 76 basis points, leading the All Share Index to close at 35,493.15 points, while year-to-date return improved to 32.2 per cent and market capitalisation increased by N140 billion to N18.6 trillion.
Market performance was buoyed by buying interest in the bellwethers such as Nestle Plc (+7.5%), Zenith Bank (+2.6%) and Guaranty Trust Bank – GTB – (+1.2%).
However, market activity level was mixed as volume traded surged 146.2 per cent to 650.5 million units while value traded fell 22.4 per cent to N2.3 billion. The most traded stocks by volume were Jaiz Bank (415.0 million units), AXA Mansard (22.3 million units) and Zenith Bank (19.3 million units), while Zenith Bank (N472.7 million), Dangote Sugar (N257.6 million) and Nestle Plc (N231.0 million) led by value.
Mixed sector performance
Performance across sectors was mixed as 3 of 6 indices closed in the green. The Consumer Goods index led gainers, up 3.8 per cent due to buying interest in Nestle Plc (+7.5%) and Flour Mill (+7.3%). Trailing, the Banking and Insurance indices rose 1.9 per cent and 1.6 per cent, respectively, following price appreciation in Zenith Bank (+2.6%), GTB (+1.2%), Wapic (+4.8%) and Consolidated Insurance Plc (+7.4%). Conversely, the Oil & Gas and Industrial Goods indices were down 0.3 per cent and 0.2 per cent, respectively as a result of price depreciation in Oando Plc (-3.5%) and Wapco (-2.2%). Lastly, the AFR-ICT index closed flat.
Investor sentiment weakens
Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) decreased to 1.9x from the 2.1x recorded in the previous session as 25 stocks gained against the 13 that declined. AXA Mansard (+10.0%), May & Baker (+9.9%) and NCR (+9.6%) led the gainers while Cornerstone Insurance (-8.3%), Linkage Assurance (-8.2%) and Lasaco (-6.1%) led the decliners.
The NSE 30 The NSE 30 Index increased by 0.91 per cent to close at 1,458.51 points as against 1,445.29 points on […]
