Nigerian Stock Market Shows Resilience, Bounces Back by 0.98%

By Dipo Olowookere

Nigerian stocks showed resilience at the exchange on Wednesday, rebounding by 0.98 per cent after being pinned down by the bears for two straight days due to profit-taking triggered by the recent FTSE Russell downgrade.

During the midweek session, investors reacted to the positive earnings releases by UBA Plc and others. The tier-1 lender surprised the investing community with a 150 per cent rise in its interim dividend payout, tempting traders to mop up the company’s shares.

This partly contributed to the growth recorded by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited yesterday, as the All-Share Index (ASI) closed higher by 654.20 points to 67,414.40 points from 66,760.20 points, and the market capitalisation expanded by N358 billion to N36.896 trillion from N36.538 trillion.

Business Post reports that the banking sector appreciated by 4.58 per cent, the insurance space grew by 2.27 per cent, the consumer goods counter improved by 1.27 per cent, while the energy and industrial goods indices fell by 0.12 per cent, and 0.03 per cent, respectively.

Investor sentiment was strong yesterday as the stock market ended with 34 price gainers and 24 price losers, indicating a positive market breadth index.

NASCON, Dangote Sugar, NAHCO and United Capital appreciated by 10.00 each to N51.70, N57.20, N23.65, and N16.50 apiece, and Transcorp gained 9.98 per cent to finish at N6.61.

On the flip side, Courteville lost 10.00 per cent to settle at 54 Kobo, ABC Transport depreciated by 9.80 per cent to 92 Kobo, Tantalizers went down by 9.30 per cent to 39 Kobo, Learn Africa shed 8.51 per cent to close at N3.01, and Regency Alliance dropped 8.33 per cent to 33 Kobo.

The activity chart was in the red on Wednesday after the trading volume, value, and the number of deals decreased by 11.76 per cent, 20.91 per cent, and 20.37 per cent apiece.

A total of 569.6 million equities valued at N8.7 billion were traded in 8,404 deals during the session versus the 645.5 million equities sold for N11.0 billion in 10,554 deals a day earlier.

Oando closed the day as the most actively-traded stock after transacting 143.5 million units worth N1.4 billion, Access Holdings sold 63.6 million units for N1.1 billion, Fidelity Bank exchanged 39.6 million units for N313.8 million, Transcorp traded 32.6 million units valued at N209.2 million, and UBA traded 30.7 million units worth N464.8 million.