Equities rebound with N50bn gain

Following two consecutive losses, the equities market of the Nigerian Stock Exchange rebounded as the market capitalisation increased by ₦50.3 billion to settle at ₦21.5 trillion while the year to date return rose to 2.2 per cent.

The All-Share Index rose 23bps to close at 41,147.72 points due to buying interest in WAPCO (+8.2%), UBA (+2.3%), and Transcorp (+9.4%).

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Activity level was mixed as volume traded rose 23.7% to 649.6 million units while value traded fell 13.6% to ₦4.6bn.

The most traded stocks by volume were Mbenefit (52.1m units), Transcorp (51.7m units), and Sterling (48.1m units) while WAPCO (₦900.1m), Guaranty (₦803.6m), and Dangote Cement (₦410.6m) topped by value.

Performance across sectors was largely bullish as 5 of 6 indices under review closed in the green save the Banking index which lost 0.2% due to sell-offs in Guaranty (-2.1%).

Conversely, the Insurance and Industrial Goods indices rose 2.5% and 0.5% respectively on the back of gains in AIICO (+9.7%), NEM (+6.3%) and WAPCO (+8.2%).

Similarly, the Oil & Gas and Consumer Goods indices gained 0.4% and 0.2% respectively due to buying interest in Ardova (+9.7%), Flourmill (+1.6%) and PZ (+5.6%). Price appreciation in MTNN (+0.1%) drove the AFR-ICT index 0.1% higher.

Analysts expect the equities market to sustain this bullish performance given the positive investor sentiment.