Nigeria’s equities market extends gains to second trading session, index up 0.93%

Nigeria’s equities market closed Thursday on a positive note, as benchmark index appreciated by 0.93 percent to close at 35,429.31 basis points as against 0.44% appreciation recorded previously. Market year-to-date (YTD) returns improved to 31.6 percent.

Accordingly, market capitalization gained N112.3 billion to settle at N12.2 trillion.

Thursday’s positive close is largely attributed to gains in DANGCEM (+1.4%), ZENITH (+3.5%) and GUARANTY (+1.2%).  In the same vein, activity level improved as volume and value traded spiked 153.8 percent and 214.8 percent to settle at 346.2 m units and N4.0tn respectively.

Sector performance was mixed as three of five sector indices closed higher. The banking index gained the most, up 1.4 percent on account of ZENITH (+3.5%) and GUARANTY (+2.0%).

Similarly, the industrial and consumer goods indices advanced 1.0 percent and 0.7 percent following gains DANGCEM (+1.4%) and NESTLE (+1.2%) respectively.

On the other hand, the insurance and oil & gas indices dipped 0.4 percent and 0.1 percent respectively due to declines in NEM (-4.1%) and MRS (-5.0%).

Investors’ sentiments as gauged by market breadth retreated to 0.9x from 1.0x recorded previously, as 20 stocks advanced against 22 decliners.

Top gainers were FIDSON (+10.2%), BOCGAS (+5.0%) and CILEASING (+4.8%) while the top losers were NASCON (-8.2%), CCNN (-5.0%) and MRS (-5.0%).

Most analysts believe that as Q3:2017 draws to a close, the recent gains in the market may be driven by  portfolio rebalancing by fund managers albeit expecting a negative close to the week.