Investors gained N174bn as NSE All Share Index grew by 1.3%

Investors at the Nigerian Stock Market gained N174 billion as the equities market reversed the negative performance from the previous trading session with the All Share Index rising by 1.3 per cent to settle at 38,676.12 points. The year to date YTD gain expanded to 1.1 per cent.

The rally in the market can largely be attributed to the “January effect”- a period in which there is increased buying activity at the start of the year. As a result, market capitalisation grew by N174.0billion to N13.8 trillion. The market’s positive performance can be broadly attributed to gains in GUARANTY (+3.8%), ZENITH (+5.0%) and UBA (+4.4%). Similarly, activity level improved as volume and value traded advanced 40.0 per cent and 83.2 per cent to 825.1 million units and N3.9 billion respectively.

Performance across sectors was largely positive as all indices closed in the green save the Consumer Goods index which shed 0.2 per cent on the back of losses in NESTLE (-3.6%) and PZ (-3.8%). On the flip side, the Banking index led the gainers chart, up 3.9 per cent due to price appreciation in GUARANTY (+3.8%), ZENITH (+5.0%), UBA (+4.4%) and DIAMOND (+9.9%). The Oil & Gas index followed, up 2.1% as investors took position in SEPLAT (+3.8%), FORTE (+5.0%) and CONOIL (+5.0%). Similarly, DANGCEM (+0.1%), WAPCO (+4.3%), MANSARD (+3.8%) and LINKASSURE (+4.2%) drove the Industrial Goods (+1.8%) and Insurance indices (+1.0%) higher.

Market breadth a measure of investor sentiment- improved significantly to 8.2x from 3.4x recorded in previous trading consequent on 49 stocks advancing against six decliners. Today’s top performers were DANGFLOUR (+10.1%), MAYBAKER (+10.0%) and DIAMOND (+9.9%) while NEM (-4.8%), CUSTODIAN (-4.8%) and NEIMETH (-4.3%) were the worst performers. In line with expectation, the market closed in the green today, hence we anticipate a positive close at the end of the week buoyed by a broad based rally.

Market Statistics Thursday, 4th January 2018
Market Cap (N’bn)                                         13,763.5
Market Cap (US$’bn)                                           45.0
NSE All-Share Index                                     38,676.12
Daily Performance %                                              1.3
Week Performance %                                             1.8
YTD Performance %                                               1.1
Daily Volume (Million)                                          825.1
Daily Value (N’bn)                                                    3.9
Daily Value (US$’m)                                               12.7