Stocks rally further by 0.27%

Nigeria’s equities market furthered its northward trend by 0.27 percent or N157billion on Thursday, its second positive close after recent rate hike.

The market’s year-to-date (YtD) return has increased to 39.84 percent ahead of Easter holidays. The market witnessed increased investor interest in Tier-I banks, pushing their values higher, this is in addition to record decent gains in Tier-II lenders.

Shares of Zenith Bank, GTCO, Access Holdings, UBA, and Fidelity Bank were actively traded by investors. In 10,257 deals, investors exchanged 623,075,241 shares worth N16.954billion.

Though analysts at Lagos-based Vetiva research had ahead of Thursday’s trading noted that the market might see moderated gains “while investors look for other undervalued stocks”.

Julius Berger rallied most, from N60.15 to N66, after adding N5.85 or 9.73percent. It was followed by Ikeja Hotel which rose from N5.85 to N6.43, up by 58kobo or 9.91percent.

Also, Morison went up from N1.60 to N1.76, adding 16kobo or 10percent, while UPDC REIT rose from N4.70 to N5.15, adding 45kobo or 9.57percent.

At the close of trading session on Thursday, the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) All-Share Index (ASI) and equities market capitalisation increased further from preceding day’s lows of 104,283.64 points and N58.963trillion respectively to 104,562.06 points and N59.120trillion.