Investors in Nigeria’s large-capitalised stocks recorded the highest share price returns from Forte Oil plc, Skye Bank plc, and Cadbury Nigeria plc, BusinessDay trend watch has shown.
Between January 2 and May 28, 2014, BusinessDay trend analysis shows that the trio outperformed other 27 stocks which make up the basket of 30 large-cap stocks at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
Ahead of others, Forte Oil plc recorded 108.89 percent increase in its share price. The company, whose share price opened the year at N92.87, witnessed a rally to N194 as at May 28.
Further details show that Skye Bank plc share price achieved a 5-month growth of 41.6 percent from a year-open level of N2.50 to N3.54 as at May 28; while Cadbury Nigeria plc followed with an increase of 28.49 percent which its share price recorded in the review period.
The bearish sentiment which pervaded the equities market in the first five months of the year reflected on only 10 out of 30 large-cap stocks which recorded price gains, while the remaining 20 stocks recorded price decline.
At the Nigerian bourse, the direction of market indicators is to a very large extent affected by liquidity/illiquidity around large-capitalised stocks.
In the five months to May, the NSE All Share Index (ASI) recorded 0.35 percent returns, a development which analysts noted seemed a positive trend.
At that level of returns, market analysts at Financial Derivatives Company Limited observed that the NSE underperformed most markets. They noted that MSCI World rose by 3.26 percent, S&P 500 rose by 4.07 percent, Europe recorded a 3.76-percent gain, FTSE 100 was up by 1.72 percent, while Frontier Markets rose by 17.12 percent.
On the negatives, Oando plc was the most laggard in the 5-month period after its share price declined by 32.66 percent, from a high of N26.73, to N18. It was followed by Guinness Nigeria plc which lost 23.85 percent from N235.09 to N179; while United Bank for Africa plc came third on the list of laggards in NSE 30 basket. It declined by 19.67 percent from N9.15 to N7.35.
On the positives, the shares of Access Bank plc rose by 1.5 percent from N9.55 to N9.70 in the period under review; Dangote Cement plc rose by 3.19 percent from N220 to N227.01; GlaxoSmithKline appreciated by 0.22 percent from N68 to N68.15; GTBank plc rose by 2.66 percent from N27.75 to N28.49; and Julius Berger Nigeria plc appreciated by 4.42 percent from N72.29 to N75.49.
Also, Nigerian Breweries plc rose by 5.45 percent from N165.01 to N174; Stanbic IBTC Holdings plc increased by 6.69 percent from N21.35 to N22.80; while Union Bank of Nigeria plc was up by 8.16 percent from N9.80 to N10.60.
Also in the negatives, Dangote Sugar Refinery plc declined by 13.27 percent from N11.30 to N9.80; Diamond Bank plc was down by 13.33 percent, from N7.50 to N6.50; ETI plc dropped by 2.37 percent from N16.39 to N16; FBN Holdings plc declined from N16.30 to N14.5, down by 11.04 percent; FCMB plc dipped by 8.85 percent, from N3.84 to N4.18; Fidelity Bank plc lost 23.7 percent of its share price in the review period, from a high of N2.70 to N2.06; while Flour Mills Nigeria plc declined by 16.09 percent, from N87 to N73.
In addition, International Breweries plc recorded 10.77 percent decline, from N28.70 to N25.61; Lafarge WAPCO plc dropped by 2.17 percent, from N115 to N112.50; Nestle Nigeria plc lost 9.48 percent of its share price in the review period, dropping from N1,182 to N1,070; PZ Cussons Nigeria plc declined by 7.36 percent, from N37.60 to N34.83; Total Nigeria plc was down by 6.52 percent, from N173.30 to N162; Transnational Corporation plc dropped by 13.83 percent, from N4.34 to N3.74; UACN plc declined by 2.99 percent, from N67 to N65; Unilever Nigeria plc share price lost 10.42 percent, from N53.80 to N48.19; while Zenith Bank plc was down by 3.88 percent, from a high of N25 to N24.03.
Iheanyi Nwachukwu
