NGX resumes year upbeat as ASI up by 0.73%

Activities on the nation’s bourse kicked off the first trading session of the year on a positive note due to bargain hunting on BUA Cement.

Specifically, the All-Share Index advanced by 309.79 points or 0.73 percent to close at 43,026.23 against 42,716.44 recorded on Friday. Accordingly, the year-to-date return printed 0.7 percent.

The upturn was impacted by gains recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, among which are BUA Cement, Stanbic IBTC Holdings, Flour Mills, Zenith Bank, and Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals.

This week, United Capital expected the January buying interest to resume in no distant time as investors begin to position for full year 2021 dividend announcements.

However, market breadth was negative with 27 laggards against 18 gainers. Academy Press drove the gainers’ chart in percentage terms by 10 percent to close at 55k per share.

Wema Bank followed with 9.72 percent to close at 79k, while Cornerstone Insurance was up by 8.70 percent to close at 50k per share.

Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals rose by 8 percent to close at N1.89, while BUA Cement appreciated by 7.31 percent to close at N71.95 per share.

On the other hand, Ardova, Northern Nigeria Flour Mills and Vitafoam led the losers’ chart in percentage terms by 10 percent each to close at N11.70, N7.20 and N20.25 per share, respectively.

Chams followed with 9.09 percent to close at 20k, while SUNU Assurances depreciated by 8.89 percent to close at 41k per share. The total volume of trades decreased by 52.4 percent to 216.65 million shares valued at N1.52 billion exchanged in 4,080 deals.

This was in contrast with a total of 455.22 million shares worth N9.89 billion transacted in 2,829 deals on Friday. Transactions in the shares of Chams topped the activity chart with 29.87 million shares valued at N6.08 million.

Wema Bank followed with 17.11 million shares worth N13.31 million, while Zenith Bank traded 11.04 million shares valued at N278.22 million.

Read also: NGX-30 Index: Oando replaces Nascon

Transcorp traded 10.76 million shares valued at N10.49 million, while Sovereign Trust Insurance transacted 10.48 million shares worth N2.86 million.

Meanwhile, the NGX has announced the results of its full-year market index review to enable investors follow market movements and manage investment portfolios.

This is contained in a statement by the NGX made available to the News Agency of Nigeria on Tuesday in Lagos.

The statement listed the indices as NGX 30, NGX Lotus Islamic, NGX Pension, Corporate Governance Index, Afrinvest Bank Value Index, Afrinvest Dividend Yield Index, Meristem Growth Index and Meristem Value Index.

It added that the review led to the entry and exit of some companies from several indices, which took effect when the market opened on January 4.

The statement said that the incoming and exiting companies in the various indices included: NGX 30 Index showed Oando as incoming and Nasco Allied Industries.

The statement listed United Bank for Africa as incoming under Afrinvest Bank Value Index, while FCMB exited. Also, under Afrinvest Div Yield Index: Guinness, Vitafoam, Triple Gee and Company as incoming while AIICO Insurance, Conoil, Fidelity Bank and United Capital exited.

The statement explained that the indices were developed to allow investors to follow market movements and properly manage investment portfolios.

The indices were designed using the market capitalisation methodology; the indices are rebalanced on a semi-annual basis on the first business day in January and in July.

The Nigerian bourse began publishing the NGX 30 Index in February 2009 with index values available from January 1, 2007.

On July 1, 2008, the NGX developed five sectoral indices with a base value of 1,000 points, designed to provide investable benchmarks to capture the performance of specific sectors.

The sectoral indices comprise the top 15 most capitalised and liquid companies in the insurance and consumer Goods sectors.

The top 10 most capitalised and liquid companies in the banking and industrial goods sector; and the top seven most capitalised and liquid companies in the Oil & Gas sector.

In July 2012, the Exchange launched the NGX Lotus Islamic Index (NGX LII) which consists of companies whose business practices are in conformity with Shari’ah Investment Principles.