Industrial Goods Sector Buoys Nigeria’s Equity Market by 0.45%

By Dipo Olowookere

The first trading session of the week at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited ended on a positive note on Tuesday as a result of bargain-hunting in the industrial goods space and the financial services sector.

The relatively cheap prices of stocks attracted traders, who still tread cautiously because of the inflationary pressures and the downgrading of the Nigerian economic growth for 2022 by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to 3.2 from 3.4 per cent.

Some investors felt it was worth the risk to re-enter the market yesterday and at the close of transactions, the equity market appreciated by 0.45 per cent.

Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) grew by 214.49 points to settle at 47,565.92 points compared with the previous day’s 47,351.43 points, and the market capitalisation expanded by N117 billion to end at N25.908 trillion in contrast to the preceding session’s N25.791 trillion.

Despite the gains reported on Tuesday, investor sentiment remains weak as the market breadth finished negative with 15 price losers and 12 price gainers.

May and Baker gained 9.76 per cent to sell for N4.05, Ikeja Hotel appreciated by 9.73 per cent to N1.24, BUA Cement improved by 8.65 per cent to N56.50, Cornerstone Insurance rose by 8.00 per cent to 54 Kobo, and Unity Bank grew by 7.32 per cent to 44 Kobo.

On the flip side, University Press lost 8.54 per cent to trade at N1.50, Cadbury Nigeria fell by 6.94 per cent to N11.40, FTN Cocoa depreciated by 6.67 per cent to 28 Kobo, Caverton went down by 5.94 per cent to 95 Kobo, and Cutix decreased by 4.63 per cent to N2.06.

The industrial goods recorded the highest improvement yesterday as it grew by 3.18 per cent, while the banking space appreciated by 0.65 per cent, with the insurance sector rising by 0.24 per cent. However, the energy index declined by 2.41 per cent as the consumer goods counter shrank by 0.10 per cent due to sustained profit-taking.

During the session, investors traded 125.7 million shares worth N1.9 billion in 4,188 deals as against the 137.3 million shares worth N1.7 billion transacted last Friday in 3,845 deals, indicating a rise in the trading value by 11.09 per cent, a growth in the number of deals by 8.92 per cent, and a decline in the trading volume by 8.47 per cent.