- GTBank, Unilever, Stanbic IBTC Drive Stocks’ Rebound
The Nigerian equities market returned to a N50bn gain on Thursday, spurred by upticks in Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, Unilever Nigeria Plc and Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc’s shares.
The Nigerian Stock Exchange All-Share Index closed 0.33 per cent higher to settle at 43,092.63 from 42,952.70 basis points while the year-to-date return increased to 12.7 per cent.
Accordingly, investors gained N50bn as market capitalisation rose to N15.48tn. The share prices of GTBank, Unilever and Stanbic IBTC appreciated respectively by 2.9 per cent, 7.5 per cent and five per cent, and thus offset 1.1 per cent loss in the share price of Dangote Cement Plc.
However, activity level weakened as volume and value traded fell by 1.6 per cent and 37.2 per cent to 266 million units and N3.2bn, respectively. The top traded stocks by volume were Capital Oil Plc (308.8 million), Japaul Oil & Maritime Services Plc (24 million) and Multiverse Nigeria Plc (17.5 million) while Zenith Bank Plc (N506.2m), GTBank(N499.2m) and Dangote Cement (N485.8m) were the top traded by value.
Performance across sectors was mixed as two of the five major indices closed in the green while three plummeted. The consumer goods index advanced the most, appreciating by 0.9 per cent following gains in Unilever and Nigerian Breweries while the banking index gained 0.7 per cent spurred by price appreciation in GTBank and Access Bank Plc.
However, the insurance index led the laggards, down by 0.9 per cent as profit-taking in AXA Mansard Insurance Plc and NEM Insurance Nigeria Plc caused respective losses of 4.4 per cent and 3.6 per cent.
Losses in Dangote Cement also pulled the industrial goods index down by 0.5 per cent while the oil/gas index shed three basis points due to losses in Forte Oil Plc, which depreciated by 0.2 per cent.
Investor sentiment remained flat as 30 stocks advanced while 28 dropped. The top performing stocks were Japaul Oil, Wapic Insurance Plc and Unilever while C & I Leasing Plc, Regency Alliance Insurance Company Plc and Jaiz Bank Plc emerged as the worst performers.
“We expect this positive performance to be sustained till the end of the week as investors continue to seek bargain opportunities in the market,” analysts at Afrinvest said in a post.
