Renewed Interest in Local Equities Further Lifts Market by 0.79%

September 25, 2020
Equities Market

By Dipo Olowookere

The low yield environment in the fixed income market is already making investors have a second look at the equities segment of the capital market in Nigeria.

In the past few days, more trades have been witnessed on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and the decision of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to drop the benchmark interest rate in the country to 11.5 per cent on Tuesday may have fuelled a renewed interest in stocks.

This is because investing in shares seems to be the most profitable business to do now at the capital market especially when rates are very low in other market segments; savings deposit at 1.15 per cent, treasury bills as low as 1.09 per cent, 10-year bond at 6.00 per cent.

During trading on the NSE on Thursday, the market closed 0.79 per cent and this subsequently increased the All-Share Index (ASI) by 204.12 points to 25,987.14 points from 25,783.02 points and raised the market capitalisation by N106 billion to N13.581 trillion from N13.475 trillion.

A total of 359.3 million shares worth N3.9 billion were traded in 3,576 deals yesterday compared with the 414.1 million stocks worth N6.3 billion transacted in 3,793 deals the previous session, indicating a decline in the trading volume, value and number of deals by 13.24 per cent, 38.32 per cent and 5.72 per cent respectively.

Sterling Bank was the most traded stock of the day, transacting 71.9 million units worth N83.4 million, while GTBank followed with 51.7 million shares valued at N1.4 billion.

Zenith Bank traded 44.5 million stocks worth N759.1 million, Fidelity Bank transacted 37.1 million equities for N67.0 million, while Flour Mills exchanged 29.4 million stocks for N588.3 million.

Business Post reports that the market closed with 25 price gainers and eight price losers yesterday and the risers’ gang was led by Nigerian Breweries, which added N4.35 to its share value to finish at N47.85 per unit.

Mobil Nigeria gained N2 to settle at N195.10 per unit, Dangote Cement rose by N1.20 to sell for N135.90 per share, Lafarge Africa appreciated by 90 kobo to end at N14.10 per unit, while GTBank gained 50 kobo to trade at N26 per share.

On the loser’s chart, Ardova occupied the top spot after shedding N1.10 to close at N10.30 per share, Unilever Nigeria lost 80 kobo to finish at N13.60 per share, Red Star Express depreciated by 25 kobo to trade at N3 per unit, CAP lost 10 kobo to finish at N17 per share, while Daar Communications declined by 3 kobo to quote at 30 kobo per share.

The consumer goods, banking and industrial goods sectors performed well on Thursday, closing higher by 2.09 per cent, 1.59 per cent and 0.86 per cent respectively, while the insurance and energy counters closed lower by 0.68 per cent and 0.18 per cent respectively.

Dipo Olowookere

Dipo Olowookere is a journalist based in Nigeria that has passion for reporting business news stories. At his leisure time, he watches football and supports 3SC of Ibadan.

Mr Olowookere can be reached via [email protected]

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