The bearish run in the Nigerian equities market came to a halt today as the broader index was buoyed by bargain hunting in market bellwethers – DANGCEM (+4.9%), GUARANTY (+3.8%) and NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+2.4%).
Consequently, the All Share Index (ASI) advanced 2.2% to close at 25,129.27 points while YTD loss pared to -6.5%.
Market capitalisation also improved N189.4bn to settle at N8.7tn. Furthermore, activity level strengthened as volume and value traded rose 68.0% and 76.3% to 215.4m units and N2.6bn respectively.
Indeed, performance across sectors was broadly positive as all indices appreciated, save for the Insurance index which slid 0.1% on the back of losses in AIICO (-4.8%).
The Industrial Goods index led sector gainers, up 2.3% on account of bargain hunting in DANGCEM (+4.9%), while the Banking and Consumer Goods indices rose 1.8% and 1.5% to trail performance following gains in GUARANTY (+3.8%) and NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+2.4%) respectively.
The Oil & Gas index closed 7bps northwards.
Investor sentiment was positive today as market breadth improved from 0.8x yesterday to 1.1x – 17 stocks advanced while 16 declined. The gainers’ chart was topped by TRANSCORP (+7.1%), GUINNESS (+5.0%) and DANGCEM (+4.9%), while AFRIPRUD (-5.0%), AIICO (-4.8%) and UNITYBANK (-4.3%) declined the most. The positive close today was broadly driven by bargain hunting in bellwethers and we expect this trend to persist in the trading session ahead.