Market up 0.56% as bargain hunting continues on NGX

Nigeria’s equities market continued its rally on Wednesday, as bargain hunters furthered their activities in June. This month, the market has risen by 2.61 percent, pushing the return this year to a new high of 11.40 percent.

Futureview analysts had said in their June 10 note that they “expect the equities market to maintain bullish momentum this week amid improved market sentiment.”

Though Coronation research analysts said in their June 10 note to investors that they “anticipate mild profit-taking, particularly on stocks that recently rallied as investors continue their cautious approach observed since the beginning of the year, despite the market still showing potential for further price appreciation.”

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Ahead of Thursday’s public holiday to mark Nigeria’s democracy day, the stock market closed in green.

At the close of trading, stocks of Nestle Nigeria, Vitafoam and other major laggards could not drive the market into negative territory.

Nestle dropped from a high of N1,590.50 to N1,500, losing N90.50 or 5.69 percent. Vitafoam dipped from N64.80 to N60.50, losing N4.30 or 6.64percent, Abbey Mortgage Bank decreased from N6 to N5.55, losing 45kobo or 7.50 percent, while NCR moved down from N5.92 to N5.50, losing 42kobo or 7.09 percent.

The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) All Share Index (ASI) and equities market capitalisation increased to 114,659.11 points and N72.302 trillion, respectively, as against the preceding day’s 114,017.48 points and N71.897 trillion.

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Beta Glass rallied most, from N210.10 to N231.10, adding N21 or 10 percent. Berger Paints rose from N22.55 to N24.80, up by N2.25 or 9.98 percent. Fidson moved up from N31.80 to N34.95, adding N3.15 or 9.91 percent.

In 20,538 deals, equities traders exchanged 471,150,678 shares worth N14.188 billion. FCMB Group, UBA, Access Holdings, Zenith Bank, and Japaul Gold were actively traded stocks.