Stocks fail to sustain gains

Nigeria stock market on Thursday June 18 failed to sustain previous day’s gains as investors continued to price-in the risk of increasing cases of Covid-19. Investors lost N21billion following sell pressure on mid-to-large cap stocks led by Nigerian Breweries Plc.

Vetiva analysts believe the stock market still offers growth opportunity for investors willing to take position for medium to long term.

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All Share Index (ASI) decreased by 0.16 percent to 24,933.41 points at the close of trading session from preceding day high of 24,972.89 points.

The value of listed stocks on the Nigerian Bourse decreased from N13.027trillion to N13.006trillion. Year-to-date (Ytd), the market has decreased by -7.11percent; while this month it has decreased by -1.32percent.

Nigerian Breweries Plc led the decliners after its share price dropped from N42 to N38, losing N4 or 9.52percent.

Fidson Healthcare also dropped from N3.4 to N3.07, losing 33kobo or 9.71percent; while Neimeth was down from N1.89 to N1.71, shedding 18kobo or 9.52percent.

In 3,315 deals, investors exchanged 171,208,471 units valued at N2.210billion.

“We believe that the stock market will remain highly volatile in the interim as the realities of COVID-19 remain prevalent”, said United Capital analysts in their June 18 note.

Oil prices ticked up on Thursday after U.S. oil product stocks shrank, providing bulls with ammunition ahead of a meeting between OPEC producers and their allies to discuss their future output strategy.

Brent crude futures were up 34 cents at $41.05 a barrel at 1144 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 15 cents to $38.11 a barrel.

“We expect the bullish streak to be sustained as investors position in attractive stocks and sentiment improves due to a rebound in global oil prices”, Afrinvest research analysts said in their June 15 note.