Nigeria stock investors gain N350bn in one week

Nigeria’s stock market moved further north by 0.57 percent on Friday, October 2, the first trading day in the new month. Week-on-week (wow), investors booked over N350 billion gain; the market’s year-to-date (YtD) returns turned positive at +0.54 percent.

The market strengthened its positive trend as more investors bought shares of Africa’s leading cement producer Dangote Cement Plc and that of the leading telecommunications operator MTNN Plc.

Also, GTBank Plc which continues to reoccur among investors’ top picks, as well as stocks like Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc and Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, were on demand.

Custom Street’s recent bullish trend is attributed to the stability seen in the Crude oil market, as well as the recent decision of the MPC to reduce the benchmark rate (MPR) by 100basis points (bps) to 11.50percent. This now drives buying interest in most fundamentally attractive stocks.

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Despite recent positives, analysts still believe a number of stocks listed on the Nigerian Bourse trade below their fair values –though there is need to trade cautiously in the short term as the domestic market remains soft in the face of global and local uncertainties.

In the four-day trading week, the stock market increased by 2.53percent, thanks to banking and industrial goods, and oil & gas stocks the recorded increased bargains.

In the week under review, NSE Banking Index increased most by +4.24percent; followed by NSE Industrial Goods (+3.25percent); NSE Oil & Gas Index (+1.79 percent); and NSE Insurance Index (+0.64 percent).

Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) All Share Index (ASI) and Market Capitalisation had opened the review trading week at 26,319.34 points and N13.755trillion respectively but closed at 26,985.77points and N14.105trillion.

At the close of trading on Friday, Dangote Cement Plc rallied most, from N142.9 to N144, adding N1.1 or 0.77 percent; followed by MTNN Plc which rose from N129 to N130, adding N 1 or 0.78 percent.

GTBank Plc also increased from N28.05 to N29, adding 95 kobo or 3.39 percent; Dangote Sugar Refinery rose from N12.4 to N12.9, adding 50 kobo or 4.03 percent, while Julius Berger advanced from N16.05 to N16.25, adding 20 kobo or 1.25 percent.