Stock market moves further north

Nigeria’s equities market strengthened its northward movement on Wednesday by N18billion as more investors stayed on the buy-side on the local Bourse. Investors interest in stocks like Transcorp, International Breweries, and Academy Press helped the northward movement. The market recorded cherry-picking activities across board as investors await first-quarter (Q1) earnings reports of companies.

At the close of trading session on Wednesday, the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) All Share Index (ASI) and its equities market capitalisation increased further to 51,178.41 points and N27.870trillion.

Transcorp shares moved up most, from N2.03 to N2.23, adding 20kobo or 9.85percent, followed by that of International Breweries which rose from N4.45 to N4.75, adding 30kobo or 6.74percent.

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Meristem research analysts who had persisting sell-offs in the market did not rule out the possibility of bargain hunting activities on tickers that have gained appreciably in the past weeks. “In addition, the markdown of some tickers for dividends during the week presents an attractive entry point for investors,” the analysts added.

In 3,505 deals, investors exchanged 1,272,449,032 shares valued at N3.977billion. Transcorp, Fidelity Bank, Zenith Bank, GTCO, and Dangote Sugar were five most traded stocks on the NGX.

Month-to-date (MtD), the market has decreased by 5.57percent, while week-to-date (WtD), it has decreased by 1.32percent. The market’s positive close pushed its record negative return year-to-date (YtD) to new low of 0.08percent.