Buying Interest in 9 Stocks Lift NSE Index by 0.05%

By Dipo Olowookere

Bulls resurfaced at the local equity market on Thursday as a result of invitations from nine stocks led by MTN Nigeria during the trading session.

Investors reacted positively to news of MTN Nigeria being added to the MSCI Frontier Markets Index as well as the raising of $140.24 million from the sale of some assets by its parent company based in South Africa as part of its divestment plan announced in March 2019.

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), which was like closing bearish again, ended 0.05 percent higher to reduce the year-to-date loss to 12.74 percent.

The All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 12.79 percent yesterday to finish at 27,424.92 points, while the market capitalisation appreciated by N7 billion during the session to settle at N13.365 trillion.

Business Post reports that despite the marginal gain recorded yesterday, the market breadth ended negative with 23 price losers and nine price gainers.

MTN Nigeria topped the gainers’ chart after adding N4.20k to its share price to close for the day at N132.50k per share.

CCNN followed with a price appreciation of 45 kobo to finish at N14 per unit, while Dangote Sugar improved by 30 kobo to end at N10.10k per share.

Furthermore, Dangote Flour appreciated by 25 kobo to end at N20.60k per unit, while Axa Mansard increased its share value by 15 kobo to settle at N1.80k per share.

At the other side, Guinness Nigeria dominated the losers table after going down yesterday by N4.60k to finish at N41.40k per share.

Forte Oil depreciated by N1.50k to close at N16.80k per share, Zenith Bank declined by 95 kobo to settle at N16.80k per unit, GTBank fell by 80 kobo to exchange at N26.90k per share, while Africa Prudential went down by 38 kobo to finish at N3.42k per unit.

During the trading session, the level of activity improved as the volume traded increased by 116.84 percent from 129 million to 279.6 million, while the value rose by 127.03 percent from N1.2 billion to N2.7 billion.

A further breakdown of the trades indicated that FBN Holdings dominated the activity chart on Thursday, closing with a turnover of 58.9 million unit of shares sold for N295.9 million.

Zenith Bank transacted 39.1 million units for N664.6 million, Access Bank traded 38.3 million worth N233.6 million, GTBank sold 29.8 million shares for N804.6 million, while UAC Property exchanged 20.1 million equities valued at N22.5 million.