Stanbic, GSK, others lead market’s positive start to new week

Nigeria’s equities market opened the new week on a positive note (+0.41percent), driven majorly by investors who bought shares of FTN Cocoa, Stanbic IBTC Holdings, GSK, Lasaco, and Nascon.

Investors are plugging into value stocks amid roll out of companies half year (H1) results. Mostly favoured are stocks with history of attractive interim dividend payment.

The positive close on Monday July 24 pushed the market’s return year-to-date (YtD) to 27.35percent. Investors booked about N145billion gain at the close of Monday’s trading.

“With second-quarter (Q2) 2023 earnings season underway, we anticipate that investors will favour fundamentally sound stocks, as they digest the latest earnings results.

“That said, we ought to see a positive reaction in counters, which outperform the market’s expectations for first-half (H1) 2023 performance,” Lagos-based Vetiva analysts had noted ahead of market open.

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The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) All-Share Index and equities market capitalisation increased from preceding day’s 65,003.39 points and N35.394trillion respectively to 65,268.28 points and N35.539trillion.

FTN Cocoa moved from day-open low of N2 to N2.20, up by 10percent. GSK rose from N7.50 to N8.25, up by 10percent.

Futureview research analysts expect bullish trading pattern this week as “we see the roll out of half year (H1) results with investors plugging into selected stocks with attractive dividend yields and financial performance while keeping wary of abandoning gains in the market”.

Nonetheless, they recommend that investors only invest in stocks that are fundamentally sound.

Likewise, Lasaco increased from N1.60 to N1.76, up by 10percent. Also, Nascon rallied by 10percent, from N29 to N31.90, while Stanbic IBTC Holdings moved up by 10 percent, from N62.70 to N68.95.