The performance of stocks listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) in May 2019 was the best in 15 months, thanks to Dangote Cement Plc and MTN Nigeria Communications Plc, the market’s biggest firms that made that happen.
The benchmark index of the NSE, the All-Share Index (ASI), which fell to its lowest level in two years as of May 15, gained 6.55 percent in May to reverse the market’s loss of 6.06 percent in the previous month.
The impressive performance was buoyed by the listing of MTN Nigeria by a way of introduction, which caused the stock to rally in the first six trading days, and Dangote Cement’s best monthly performance since January 2018.
MTN listed 20.35 billion of its shares at the Lagos bourse at 90 per share on May 16. Having traded for eleven (11) trading sessions, the telecoms firm’s stock appreciated 51.67 percent to close at N136.50 per share on Friday. This placed MTN as the second-best performer on the NSE for the month after Thomas Wyatt which rose 60 percent.
Similarly, the cement maker surged 11 percent in May to close at N199.50, this compares with N180 a share of Dangote Cement valued at the beginning of the month. As a result, the return of the cement giant since the start of the year stood at 5.17 percent.
Consequently, out of N2.73 trillion added to investors’ wealth, MTN Nigeria delivered N946 billion, translating to 35 percent of the total market gain for the month. Investment of Dangote Cement’s shareholders appreciated in value by N332 billion to post 12 percent contribution to the market.
Other best-performing stocks on the NSE include Beta Glass which rose 33.9 percent to N75; Fidson Healthcare, 20 percent to N5.05; Courteville Business Solutions, 20 percent; and AG Leventis, 15.4 percent to 30 kobo.
But in spite of the gains, the market’s year-to-date return remained in the negative territory of -1.15 percent. This was driven by losses recorded by other market bellwethers.
Nestle Nigeria fell by 4.61 percent during the month to N1,450 per share. Nigeria’s most capitalised bank, Guaranty Trust Bank, plunged 4.24 percent to N31.60, while Zenith Bank dropped 5.63 percent to close at N20.10.
Also, Nigerian Breweries lost 10.77 percent to close N58. Stanbic IBTC fell by 3.23 percent to N42, while Seplat Petroleum Development Company closed lower by 4.37 percent to N549.90.
OLUWASEGUN OLAKOYENIKAN
