Nigerian bourse continues upward drive as Index gains 1.58% Thursday

The equities market continued on its impressive run on Thursday as the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All-Share Index (ASI) surged further by 1.58 per cent to 39,042.11 points, largely driven by interests in industrial goods stocks.

Accordingly, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date gains improved to 2.46 per cent and 2.09 per cent, respectively.

The Industrial Goods (+3.72%) index posted the largest gain among the major sector indices, followed by the Consumer Goods (+1.03%) and Banking (+0.14%) indices, driven by demand for the shares of DANGCEM (+4.00%), CADBURY (+4.78%), and STANBIC (+3.04%), respectively. On the flip side, returns in the Insurance (-0.73%) and Oil & Gas (-0.46%) indices turned negative, owing to selloffs of CONTINSURE (-4.67%) and ETERNA (-4.96%) stocks, respectively.

Market breadth remained positive, albeit narrower, with 29 gainers and 19 losers, led by NASCON (+10.07%) and ETERNA (-4.96%) respectively. Total volume and value of trades increased by 25.16% and 14.19% to 492.05 million and NGN7.62 billion respectively, exchanged in 4,726 deals.

It is the view of analysts at Cordros Capital that gains are likely to extend on the bourse, as prices of value stocks remain relatively attractive, supported by still-positive macroeconomic fundamentals.