The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) today has recovered from a two day downturn to record gains on investments as value of stocks increased lead to 2.43 percent growth in the market All Share Index.
The upturn was largely boosted by value appreciation recorded in some highly capitalised analysts picked stocks for 2017 such as: Nestle Nigeria Plc, Dangote Cement Plc amongst 32 stocks that gained against 20 losers.
Analysts believe that the positive upsurge of the market is due to the good impression that has made on the investors by the positive Q2 and H1 results that have being released so far, citing the examples of the like of Okomu Oil Palm, Presco, Ondo, amongst a host, Sewa Wuse of Sterling Capital said investors are excited by the numbers in the results. “they are taking bullish positions due to the positive result” Sewa noted that the positive trend points to a general recovery of the economy as increased economic activities in the Non-Manufacturing Index also made positive results.
The market’s benchmark performance indicator – the All-Share Index (ASI) appreciated by 872.87 points, representing a gain of 2.43 percent gain to close at 36,720.62 points as against 35,844.00 on Tuesday. Similarly, the market capitalisation gained about N302.127 billion to close at N12.655 trillion as against N12.353 trillion the preceding day. A total of 5,602 deals were sealed to the tone of about 849 million shares with a value of N94.049 billion while the year-to-date return on the ASI stood at 36.64 percent.
Dangote Cement Plc shares had the most trades with 417.763 million units traded for about N87.764 billion FBN Holdings Plc followed with N61.006 million units traded to a tone of N367.533 million. Access Bank Plc followed with 39.858 million units traded for a total value N399.586 million, UBA Bank Plc followed with N38.433 million units traded for a total N371.844 million. FCMB Group Bank Plc traded N27.851 million units for the total value N33.916 million.
Nestle Nigeria Plc share price increased the most, with N21.3 to close at N1025 by the close of the trading day, from N1003.7. Dangote Cement Plc followed, gaining N16.25 from N223.75 to N240. Guinness Nig Company Plc gained N1.5, from N65.05 to N66.55. P Z Cussons Plc gained N1.15 from N23 to N24.15, Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc followed with a N1.09 increase in its share price, from N35.9 to close at N36.99 at the close of trading.
On the laggard table, Forte Oil recorded the biggest loss on Tuesday, losing N4.7 of its share price, from N61.7 to N57, Okomu Oil Palm Plc followed with a loss of N4 from N80.03 to N76.03. Lafarge Africa Plc lost N2.72 of its share price which opened at N57.72 to close at N55. Julius Berger Nigeria Plc followed losing N1.8 from N36 to close at N34.2, followed by Seven Up Bottling Company Plc who lost N1.59 of its share price from N91.89 to close at N90.3 at Tuesdays closing.
