Equities market sustain bullish run with N234bn gained in 5days

The bullish streak in the Nigerian bourse persisted, as investors accumulated N234.1 billion in five positive consecutive trading sessions from bargain hunting in value stocks on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

The gains recorded on Wednesday, further advanced the All Share Index by 0.47per cent to 32,981.63 points and moderated the Month-to-Date loss to 0.4 per cent while the Year-to-Date return improved to 22.62 per cent.

Aggregate market value of all quoted equities at the NSE- The Market Capitalization consequently rose from its opening value of N11.314 trillion to close at N11.367 trillion, representing a gain of N53 billion.

All sectoral indices also closed in the green, with the Banking Index, posting the largest gain of 1.34 per cent.
Market breadth was positive with 29 gainers and 15 losers, while Total volume traded increased by 24 per cent to 270.9 million shares valued at N2.77b and exchanged in 3,940 deals.

7up recorded the highest gain of 8.82 per cent to close at N89.23, Neimeth trailed with a gain of 7.14 percent to close at 75kobo. CAP and Linkage Assurance added 5 percent each and closed at N35.70 and 63 kobo per share each while ETI increased 4.96 percent to close at N13.76.

On the other hand, UPL recorded the highest loss of 9.60 per cent to close at N2.92. Champion Breweries followed, with a drop of 7.55 per cent to close at N2.57. UCAP lost 7.29 per cent to close at N3.05 per share, Conoil declined by 5 per cent to close at N31.55 while CAP Hotel depreciated 4.89 per cent to close at N3.31.

UBA was the most active stock with 48.3million shares valued at N434.3 million. Access Bank followed with 34.5 million shares worth N339.5 million while FBNHoldings came in third place with 31.9 million shares at 197.5 million. UCAP exchanged 30.4 million shares at N91.9 million while Zenith Bank traded 26.4 million shares worth N581.7m.

Market experts at United capital say technical analysis suggests that the All-Share Index may rally even higher when compared to the medium term resistant point of 38000-4000pts if news flow in the domestic economy continues at the pace witnessed in Q2-17.

Commenting on what could the drive the market higher, they said, “We reckon that a further uptrend in H2-17 would be majorly driven by far-reaching fundamental factors such as the consistency and sustainability of policies which are able to deliver solid macroeconomic recovery in the near term.

“In addition, a medium to long-term stability in the local economy would be critical amid impressive corporate earnings. Yet, we caution that the risks to further upside remain on the horizon amid unsteady oil prices, political uncertainty and capital flow reversal

“While a swing in market sentiment may have been driven by many factors – 2.0mbpd oil output, strong external reserves ($30.0bn), Forcados export terminal and the prospect of an economic recovery.
Amongst these, the introduction of the I&E FX window by the CBN had the most remarkable impact on the market.”

“The domestic bourse staged a strong rally in Q2-17, as a flurry of positive headlines and policy pronouncements threw a curveball at the market, driving the All Share Index (ASI) up 30.4% q/q.”

Afolabi Adesola