Nigerian equities market halts loss sessions as Index up 0.10%

The Nigerian equities market on Tuesday halted two consecutive sessions of losses, with the market All-Share Index (ASI) appreciating by 0.10 per cent to close the day trading transactions at 40,802.78 points, following interests in value stocks.

Accordingly, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns improved to -1.69 per cent and 6.69 per cent respectively.

The Oil & Gas (+0.85%) index posted the largest gain among sectoral indices, owing to demand for FO (+10.18%) shares.

The Consumer Goods (+0.72%) and Banking (+0.51%) indices also recorded gains, following interests in the shares of NESTLE (+5.00%) and ZENITHBANK (+2.57%) respectively.

On the flip side, the Industrial Goods (-0.38%) and Insurance (-0.35%) indices remained in negative territory, driven by continued selloffs in WAPCO (-0.80%) and CONTINSURE (-4.82%) respectively.

Market breadth was flat, with 25 gainers and losers apiece, led by FO (+10.18%) and FIDSON (-9.60%) respectively. Total volume and value of trades were lower, falling 53.50% and 58.55%, to 246 million units and NGN3.22 billion, respectively, exchanged in 4,918 deals.

Analysts at Cordros Capital have this to say about the market: “In our view, legroom for gains still exist in the medium to long term, on the back of (1) dropping fixed income yields, (2) relatively lower stock prices, and (3) still-positive macroeconomic fundamentals”.

In the foreign exchange market, the USD/NGN appreciated by 0.15% to NGN360 in the I&E FX window, while it remained flat at NGN363 in the parallel market. Total turnover in the I&E FX inched lower by 2.78% to USD217.57 million, consummated within the NGN330-NGN361/USD band.