NSE Records Gains, Eyes Real Estate Growth

• NSE Records Gains, Eyes Real Estate Growth

The market capitalisation of the Nigerian Stock Exchange appreciated marginally on Tuesday as 23 stock emerged gainers.

The NSE capitalisation rose to N9.712tn from N9.706tn, while the All-Share Index closed at 28,093.30 basis points from 28,078.30 basis points.

A total of 212.689 million shares valued at N2.18bn were traded in 3,908 deals.

The equities market recorded a marginal advancement of 0.11 per cent, to settle the year-to-date return at 4.60 per cent. There were 18 losers at the close of trading.

UACN Property Development Company Plc topped the gainers’ list, advancing by 9.41 per cent to close at N1.86. It was followed by Fidson Healthcare Plc, Vitafoam Nigeria Plc, Honeywell Flour Mill Plc and Airline Services and Logistics Plc, which also appreciated by 8.89 per cent, 4.98 per cent, 4.96 per cent and 4.91 per cent, respectively.

However, Dangote Flour Plc topped the losers’ chart, depreciating by 4.84 per cent to close at N4.13. This was followed by Learn Africa Plc, Cement Company of Northern Nigeria Plc, Diamond Bank Plc, and FCMB Group Plc, which depreciated by 4.71 per cent, 4.55 per cent, 4.35 per cent and 4.35 per cent, accordingly.

At the close of trading, the NSE food/beverage and insurance indices appreciated by 1.40 per cent and 1.24 per cent, being the only indices to record gains. The NSE oil/gas, industry and banking indices declined by 0.74 per cent, 0.31 per cent and 0.11 per cent, respectively.

Commenting on the performance of the market, analysts at Meristem Securities Limited said, “The mood in the market was relatively mixed, mirroring the prior day’s performance, as the market only recorded a slight gain due to appreciations on some large cap stocks.”

Meanwhile, the Chief Executive Officer, NSE, Oscar Onyema, at the Real Estate Investment Trust Conference held at the Exchange on Tuesday, said according to Ernest & Young report of 2016, global market capitalisation of REITs now stands at approximately $1.7tn, up from $734bn in 2010.

The United States REIT market has grown by almost 150 per cent, while the market capitalisation of non-US REITs had more than doubled. The two fastest-growing markets in the last five years have been Australia and Japan, both of which have now overtaken France and the United Kingdom to be the second- and third-largest global REIT markets, respectively.

In Nigeria, the real estate sector, Onyema noted, had recorded steady and consistent growth over the last decade.

PricewaterhouseCoopers in its report titled, ‘Real Estate: Building the Future of Africa,’ predicted that Nigeria’s real estate investment would rise by about 49 per cent, from $9.16bn to $13.65bn in 2016. It attributed this to a growing middle class driving demand for residential property development, and indirectly, retail, industrial and commercial real estate development.