Nigerian bourse begins May in positive note as Index up 0.09% Wednesday

The Nigerian bourse began the month on a positive note, as the market All-Share Index (ASI) inched higher for the third consecutive session by 0.09 per cent to 41,306.02 points, following interest in value stocks, as well as positive reaction to corporate earnings.

Accordingly, the Year-to-Date gain improved slightly, to 8.1 per cent — hitting the 8 per cent  mark for the first time since March 26th.

The Oil & Gas (+1.22%) index recorded the highest gain, driven by demand for the shares of MOBIL (+9.55%) — which showed significant improvement in top (+79.1% y/y to NGN45.08 billion) and bottom (+21,005.6% to NGN2.76 billion) line performance in its recently released Q1-18 results.

The Banking (+0.63%) and Industrial Goods (+0.31%) indices followed suit as UBA (+1.30%) and DANGCEM (+0.77%) recorded gains. On the flip side, the Consumer Goods (-1.09%) and Insurance (-0.59%) indices declined, owing to profit-taking in DANGFLOUR (-9.40%), and WAPIC (-3.64%) stocks, respectively.

Market breadth remained positive, with 23 gainers and 15 losers, led by MOBIL (+9.55%) and DANGFLOUR (-9.40%), respectively. Total volume of trade decreased by 38.68% to 276 million units, while value of trades was 38.95% higher, at NGN6.89 billion, and exchanged in 5,327 deals.

Analysts at Cordros Capital say: “We retain our positive outlook for risky assets, and look for extension of gains on the exchange, as still-positive macroeconomic fundamentals suggest legroom for gains exist”.