Nigeria bourse crosses psychological 32,000 points mark as bullish trend continues for 8th day

Nigeria’s equities market maintained its bullish performance for the eight consecutive session on Tuesday, crossing the proverbial psychological 32,000 points level in the process.

According to equities market analysts, the positive performance was driven by sustained buying interest in Dangote Cement (+2.3%), Nestle (+6.0%) and Seplat (+6.1%).

Consequently, the All Share Index (ASI) rose 2.1 percent to close at 32,462.3 points while year-to-date gain improved to 3.2 percent as market capitalisation increased by N253.7 billion to N12.1 trillion.

Activity level also improved as volume and value traded for the day increased by 5.5 percent and 42.2 percent to 580.4 million units and N8.0 billion respectively.

The most traded stocks by volume were Diamond Bank (125.8m units), Zenith Bank (63.2m units) and Guaranty Trust Bank (57.1m units), while the most traded stocks by value were topped by Guaranty Trust Bank (N2.2bn), Zenith Bank (N1.6bn) and Dangote Cement (N1.5bn).

Across sectors, performance remained bullish with four out of five indices recording growth. The oil and gas index gained the most, up 4.1% following price appreciation in Seplat (+6.2%) and Oando (+7.1%).

 The consumer goods and banking indices trailed, up 4.0% and 1.3% respectively as investors rallied in Nestle (+6.0%), Nigerian Breweries (+2.3%), Union Bank (+9.6%), and Eco Transnational Incorporated (+3.2%).

Similarly, the industrial goods index advanced, albeit flattish, up three basis points due to gains in Dangote Cement (+2.3%) and Lafarge Wapco (+4.2%).

On the flip side, the insurance index pared gains, down 0.2 percent due to profit taking in AIICO (-5.2%) and Prestige Assurance (-3.9%).

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) strengthened to 2.7x from 1.3x recorded the previous session consequent on 38 stocks advancing against 14 that declined.

The top gainers for the day were Jaiz Bank (+10.0%), Livestock Feeds (+10.0%) and Dangote Flour (+10.0%) while Regal Insurance (-8.0%), UAC Property (-7.9%) and Lasaco Insurance (-6.1%) led laggards.

In recent weeks, analysts at Afrinvest noted they have observed increased inflow into the domestic market despite the political risk associated with an election year.

“We believe concerns for post-election stability are beginning to moderate thus the increased appetite for cheap assets. Hence we expect the market to record gains in the near-term,” the analysts said in an investor note on Tuesday evening