Equities market extends returns with N94bn gain

Trading on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange kicked off the week with the extension of its bullish run to four days as market capitalization rose by N94.4 billion to N20.2 trillion.

Driven by buying interest in Wapco (+5.3 percent), Airtel Africa (+2.3%), and Access (+2.2%) as the All-Share index rose by 47 basis points (bps) to 38,849.08 points while year to date loss improved to -3.5%.

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Trading activity was mixed as volume traded rose by 7.1% to 246.6 million units while value traded fell by 3% to N2.2bn.

The most traded stocks by volume were Fidelity (30.5m units), Access (14.7m units), and UBA (13.8m units) while GTCO (N378.3m), Zenith (N199.8m), and Access (N136.7m) led by value.

Performance across sectors under our coverage was bullish as 5 indices gained while 1 index lost. The Oil & Gas index led the gainers, up 2.2% on the back of buying interest in Oando (+9.8%) and Ardova (+9.7%).

Investors’ sentiment, as measured by market breadth, waned to 1.8x from 2.6x recorded in the last trading session as 29 stocks advanced while 16 stocks declined.

In the next trading session, analysts expect the positive performance to be sustained barring the release of underperforming H1:2021 earnings results.