Presco, Guinness, Eterna, others cause market’s positive start to new week

Nigeria’s equities market opened the new week on a positive note, thanks to counters like Presco, Guinness and Eterna.

Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) All-Share Index (ASI) and its Market Capitalisation appreciated on Monday by 0.24percent or N62billion to close at 48,270.23 points and N26.291trillion respectively, from preceding day’s 48,154.65 points and N26.229 trillion. Year-to-date (YtD), the stock market has increased by 13 percent.

Presco led the league of advancers after its share price rose from N113 to N120.50, up by N7.50 or 6.64percent, followed by Guinness Nigeria which rose from N63 to N69.30, adding N6.30 or 10percent; and Eterna which rose from N5.92 to N6.44, adding 52kobo or 8.78percent.

“We anticipate potential market gains to be moderated as investors book profits, switch asset classes, and turn their attention towards the fixed-income markets following the MPC’s recent 100 basis point (bps) Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) hike decision,” said analysts at United Capital research.

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In 3,486 deals, investors exchanged 645,025,961 shares valued at N4.190billion. UPDC REIT, FBN Holdings, Zenith Bank, Transcorp and GTCO were top-5 traded stocks on the Exchange.

“In our view, positive sentiment is gradually permeating the equities market given the three (3) weeks of successive gains supported by improved activity levels. More so, buying activities on large-cap stocks have improved in recent weeks.

“This week, we expect the momentum to persist hinged on bargain hunting activities on heavy-weight tickers with attractive upsides and the general upside potential in the market.

“However, we do not rule out the possibility of profit-taking activities on tickers that gained in the previous weeks.

“We also note that the treasury bills primary market auction scheduled to hold this week could trigger selloffs in the equities market. Nonetheless, we expect the overriding sentiment in the market to be positive this week,” Meristem analysts said.