Stock Market Sustains Positive Run on Demand for NCR, Others

Kayode Tokede

The Nigerian stock market yesterday closed with a gain of 0.01 per cent over investors’ demand for NCR Nigeria Plc and 53 others.

Specifically, the Nigerian Exchange Limited All Share Index (ASI) gained by 10.77 basis points or 0.01 per cent to close at 166,267.60 basis points as the Year-to-Date returns settled at +6.9per cent.

Also, market capitalisation gained N7 billion to close at N106.443 trillion.

Analysing by sectors, the NGX Industrial Goods Index advanced 0.1per cent , while the NGX Insurance index dipped by one per cent , NGX Oil and Gas Index dropped by 0.9 per cent and NGX Banking declined by 0.3per cent . The NGX Consumer Goods index closed flat.

Market breadth remained positive, with 54 advancing stocks outpacing 24 declining counters. McNichols, NCR Nigeria and R.T. Briscoe (Nigeria) followed with a gain of 10 per cent each to close at N6.93, N171.05 and N4.95 respectively, per share.

Jaiz Bank followed with a gain of 9.99 per cent to close at N7.93, while May & Baker Nigeria rose by 9.95 per cent to close at N43.65, per share.

On the other hand, Champion Breweries led the losers’ chart by 9.31 per cent to close at N19.00, per share. Secure Electronic Technology followed with a decline of 6.78 per cent to close at N1.10, while Wapic Insurance declined by 6.69 per cent to close at N3.35, per share.

Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) depreciated by 6.00 per cent to close at N47.00, while AXA Mansard Insurance declined by 5.63 per cent to close at N15.10, per share.

Meanwhile, the total volume traded rose by 3.43 per cent to 822.737 million units, valued at N24.931 billion, and exchanged in 43,548 deals. Transactions in the shares of Zichis Agro-Allied Industries topped the activity chart with 69.224 million shares valued at N150.908 million. Secure Electronic Technology followed with 54.797 million shares worth N61.913 million, while Access Holdings traded 40.111 million shares valued at N917.762 million.

Zenith Bank traded 38.111 million shares valued at N2.742 billion, while Tantalizer sold 33.063 million shares worth N125.972 million.

On market outlook, analysts at Futureview stated that “we expect investors to trade cautiously, focusing on fundamentally strong stocks with attractive valuations.”