Nigerian bourse opens the week strong, Index up 0.45%

Trading activities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) started the week on a positive note, as the market All-Share Index (ASI) inched up by 0.45 Per cent to 38,844.32 points, as investors resumed bargain hunting.

Accordingly, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date gains improved to 1.94 per cent and 1.57 per cent respectively.

The Banking (+1.05%), Insurance (+0.45%), and Consumer Goods (+0.36%) indices closed positive, owing largely to interests in FBNH (+2.84%), AIICO (+4.84%), and FLOURMILL (+1.85%) stocks respectively.

On the flip side, profit-taking in the shares of CCNN (-0.38%) and ETERNA (-4.73%) drove the losses in the Industrial Goods (-0.89%) and Oil & Gas (-0.09%) indices respectively.

Market breadth turned positive, with 30 gainers and 20 losers, led by NASCON (+7.14%) and BERGER (-5.00%) shares respectively. Total volume of trades spiked by 187.19% to 603.17 million units, while value of trades was unchanged at NGN3.89 billion and exchanged in 3,832 deals.

“In our view, stock prices remain attractive, making room for bargain hunting in value stocks, amidst still-positive macroeconomic fundamentals”. Analysts at Cordros Capital said.