Stock investors shrug off Nigeria’s rising inflation as bulls dominate local Bourse

Nigeria’s equities market on Tuesday was controlled further by the Bulls amidst bargain hunting activities in major large cap stocks.

This happened despite that National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) inflation report for November 2020 which shows headline inflation rose to 14.89 percent year-on-year, that is 66 basis points (bps) higher than the previous rate reported at 14.23 percent in October 2020.

The Bulls on Custom Street chose to ignore very disappointing report on inflation (the 15th consecutive uptrend since September 2019 and the highest in 32 months) and still held sway.

Some value counters that their prices attracted investors include Dangote Cement Plc, Lafarge Africa Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, GTBank Plc and Guinness Nigeria Plc.

Increased bargain seen mostly in favour of these stocks led to 1.10 percent increase in the Nigerian Stock Exchange All Share Index (ASI), while the year-to-date (ytd) positive return increased to +31.23 percent.

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Barring any significant selloffs in large cap stocks on Wednesday, market watchers expect Tuesday’s bullish performance to filter into the new trading session.

The NSE ASI increased to 35,225.22 points from preceding day low of 34,843.44 points while the value of listed stocks on the Exchange increased to N18.410 trillion, from preceding trading day low of N18.211 trillion, up by about N200 billion.

Investors have gained about N508 billion in just two trading days into this week. In 4,354 deals, investors exchanged 264,241,914 units valued at N2.947 billion.

Access Bank, FBN Holdings, Zenith Bank, Dangote Sugar Refinery and Jaiz Bank were actively traded stocks on Tuesday.

Dangote Cement Plc recorded the highest gain after its share price moved from N188 to N195, up by N7 or 3.72percent; followed by Lafarge Africa Plc which rallied from N21 to N22.5, up by N1.5 or 7.14percent. Zenith Bank Plc share price moved up from N22.6 to N23.5, adding 90kobo or 3.98percent. GTBank Plc advanced from N33 to N33.55, adding 55kobo or 1.67percent, while Guinness Nigeria Plc rose from N17.65 to N18, up by 35kobo or 1.98percent.