Equity market maintains bullish trend, grows by N677bn

Stories by Amaka Ifeakandu Lagos

Trading activities on the fl oor of Nigerian Stock Exchange NSE last week closed higher appreciating by N 677 billion Specifi cally, market capitalization of listed equities increased by 7.46 per cent to N9.746 trillion from N9.069 trillion traded the previous week. Also the Nigerian Stock Exchange All Share Index appreciated by 1956.83 basis points to 28192.46 points from 26236.65 recorded the previous week.

Similarly, all other Indices took positive trend during the week with the exception of the NSE ASeM Index that closed fl at. NSE Premium Index appreciated by 85.78 basis point to 1,716.73, Th e NSE Main board index increased by 106.39 to 1304.04, NSE 30 index grew by 103.38 to 1,290.33, NSE Banking index 32.96 to 327.83, NSE Insurance Index added 3.63 to 127.41, NSE Consumer Goods index 84.77 to 719.26 points, NSE Oil/ Gas index increased by 8.58 to 322.28, NSE Lotus II grew by 116.29 to 1820.93, NSE Industrial goods index 6.80 to 1,696.76 while Pension index went up by 82.29 to 955.99 points.

Operators said that the growth in equity imarket was an indication that the investing community has renewed interest in the market as local and off shore investors return on positive sentiment, having seen that the fi rst quarter fi nancial result released by most companies so far is impressive.

Th ey said that the expectation for a rebound in economic activities as refl ected in the economic data released so far such as infl ation for the month of March, and believe that it would further by the time April fi gures are published by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) encouraged investment in capital market.

Another signal of improvement in the macro-economic environment today, that encouraged investment in capital market was the projections of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) that Nigeria would be out of the economic recession this year. Operators said that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) persistent interventions has greatly helped to improve liquidity in the nation’s Forex market and encourage people to invest.

Th e IMF upgraded its economic outlook for Africa and Nigeria as a result of the stable improvement in oil output from the Niger Delta where considerable peace has been restored. Th ey said that the approval of 2017 budget by the National Assembly could quicken economic recovery.

Th is according to them would be largely dependent on implementation style of the government and focus on capital projects that will drive economic growth, on the ground that, 2016 budget execution was poor, that was why its impact was not felt signifi cantly in the economy. Operators believe that Proper implementation of the 2017 budget will also help to improve the business environment and drive down operating costs for many companies. Meanwhile, investors for the week traded a total turnover of 3.255 billion shares worth N28.738 billion in 25,370 deals were traded this week by investors on the fl oor of the Exchange in contrast to a total of 1.154 billion shares valued at N10.439 billion that exchanged hands last week in 16,676 deals.

Th e Financial Services Industry led the activity chart with 2.716 billion shares valued at N17.230 billion traded in 15,103 deals; thus contributing 83.42% and 59.96% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively. Th e Consumer Goods Industry followed with 185.750 million shares worth N6.596 billion in 3,817 deals. Th e third place was occupied by Conglomerates Industry with a turnover of 156.010 million shares worth N385.427 million in 1,340 deals. Trading in the top three Equities namely – FBN Holdings Plc, FCMB Group Plc and Zenith International Bank Plc and accounted for 1.419 billion shares worth N8.185 billion in 5,117 deals, contributing 43.59 per cent and 28.48 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

A review of the investment for the week showed that 57 equities appreciated in price during the week against 43 recorded the previous week. Th e result showed that 13 fi rms depreciated in price, lower than 16 equities of the preceding week, while 103 equities remained unchanged lower than 114 equities recorded in the preceding week An analysis of the transactions for the week showed that May and Baker led gainers table last week in percentage terms, gaining 31.96 per cent or N0.31 kobo to close at N1.28 kobo, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated followed with a gain of 22.50 per cent or N1.80 kobo to close at N9.80 kobo, Fidson Healthcare Plc followed with a gain of 22.50 per cent or N0.34 kobo close at N1.92 kobo. Other Companies that recorded price appreciation were PZ Cusson Nigeria Plc 20.40 per cent,, Onado Plc 20.22 per cent, Unity Bank Plc 20 per cent, Eterna Plc 17.88 per cent, Diamond Bank 17.65 per cent, Nigerian Breweries Plc 17.05 per cent, Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc 16.33 per cent

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