The dominance of the bulls have continued unabated, as the equities market sustained positive sentiments for four consecutive trading days, causing investors’ wealth to rise further by N426 billion.
Specifically, the market capitalisation of listed equities, which opened the week at N12.477 trillion, appreciated by N426 billion to close at N12.903 trillion yesterday. Similarly, the All-Share Index (ASI), which measures the performance of quoted companies increased by 816.64 points or 3.4 per cent from 23,941.75 to 24,758.39.
United Capital Plc, in its report titled ‘What is driving the rally in the equities market’ said; “The question on the mind of investors includes whether the uptrend is sustainable and what exactly is driving this recovery. In our opinion, the recovery in share prices is driven by rebalancing in the oil market which has resulted in a 94 per cent rebound in oil prices from $18 per barrel to about $35 per barrel within a month; increasing indications that governments around the world will reopen their economies regardless of the anxiety around COVID-19; cheap market valuation of high quality stocks; sustained dividend declaration by corporates, translating into attractive dividend yield amid poor rates on T-bills and sizable market liquidity.”
Further breakdown of yesterday’s trading showed that the uptrend was impacted by gains recorded in large and medium capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Mobil Nigeria, BUA Cement, Unilever Nigeria, Guinness Nigeria and Zenith Bank.
Consequently, the market breadth closed positively, recording 29 gainers as against nine losers. Sunu Assurances Nigeria recorded the highest price gain of 10 per cent, to close at 22 kobo, per share. Red Star Express followed with a gain 9.97 per cent to close at N3.75, while Mobil Nigeria rose by 9.95 per cent to close at N194.50, per share.
BUA Cement went up by 9.88 per cent to close at N35.60, while Cutix appreciated by 9.40 per cent to close at N1.63, per share. On the other hand, Arbico Plc led the losers’ chart by 9.91 per cent, to close at N2.09, per share. Oando followed with a decline of 5.76 per cent to close at N2,62 kobo per share, while Flour Mills of Nigeria lost 4.76 per cent to close at N20.00, per share.
NPF Micro Finance Bank lost 3.55 per cent to close at N1.90, while Union Diagnostic & Clinical Services and Jaiz Bank shed 3.33 per cent each, to close at 29 kobo and 58 kobo per share respectively.
However, the total volume traded declined by 19.70 per cent to 350.766 million shares, worth N3.706 billion, and traded in 5,239 deals. Transactions in the shares of Zenith Bank topped the activity chart with 57.421 million shares valued at N961.398 million. Ekocorp Plc followed with 57.003 million shares worth N342.0194 million.
FBN Holdings traded 44.361 million shares valued at N230.965 million. Guaranty Trust Bank traded 32 million shares valued at N764.790 million, while Lafarge Africa transacted 28.383 million shares worth N312.419 million.
