MTN Nigeria Communications Plc, the largest telecommunication company in Nigeria by subscriber base, sustained its bullish trend Thursday on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) to join the country’s most capitalised firm, Dangote Cement Plc, as the only two companies trading above N3 trillion market capitalisation.
MTN Nigeria rose 2.87 percent to close at N149, the weakest gain recorded by the telecoms firm since it listed on the Lagos bourse by introduction a week earlier. With 20.35 billion shares outstanding as of May 23, MTN’s market value stood at N3.03 trillion at the close of trade.
That brings the telecommunication company’s value N460 billion less than Dangote Cement’s N3.49 trillion after the cement maker gained 0.99 percent to extend its winning streak into the fourth trading session, the longest bullish run achieved by the firm in three months. Dangote Cement closed at N205 per share, while its year-to-date return stood at 8.07 percent.
At the current prices, MTN Nigeria remains the second-biggest company on the NSE by market capitalisation after Dangote Cement, on the back of a 65.56 percent or N59 return (N1.2 trillion) posted by stock since it commenced trading on the exchange.
Dangote Cement accounts for 25.20 percent of the total market capitalisation of listed stocks on the NSE, while MTN Nigeria holds 21.87 percent of the total market.
While MTN Nigeria had recorded significant price gains in the previous five trading sessions, the sluggish pace of growth in its share price at the domestic bourse on Thursday was largely driven by lower demand for the company’s stock.
“Demand has been declining while volume traded has been increasing,” said Gbolahan Ologunro, an analyst at CSL Stockbrokers Limited. “This implies more investors now have the stock in their portfolios.”
The stock had consistently gained the maximum daily price movement allowed under NSE rules between May 16 and May 22. However, with the 2.87 percent increase, “the stock has reverted to normal trading pattern.”
More than 34 million units of MTN Nigeria’s shares valued at N5.24 billion were traded on Thursday. Although these represent 63.5 percent and 61.4 percent drops from 93.72 million shares worth N13.58 billion that exchanged hands in previous session, they were more than 5.5 million units valued at N549 million transacted on its first trading day.
Meanwhile, the Nigeria’s stock market appreciated for the sixth straight day as the benchmark index of the NSE, the All-Share Index (ASI), increased by 1.07 percent to close at 31,477.51 points, making the market’s return since the start of this year bounce back to the positive territory of 0.15 percent.
OLUWASEGUN OLAKOYENIKAN
