The Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE performed positively at the close of trade on Monday as the All Share Index (ASI) rose 3.9 percent to close at 31,967.01 points. Nigerian Stock Exchange NSE Consequently, the Year to Date, YTD return moderated to -16.4 percent and market capitalization increased by N435.9billion to N11.7trillion. The day’s performance was driven by gains in Stanbic IBTC (+10.0 percent), Nestle Nigeria (+10.0 percent), SEPLAT (+9.9 percent) and Diamond Bank (+10.0 percent). In the same vein, activity level improved as volume and value spiked 269.5 percent and 41.7 percent to 715.0million units and N5.2billionn respectively. The top traded stocks by volume were NEM Insurance (508.7million units), Med view Air (54.8million units) and Guaranty Trust Bank (26.0million units) while Dangote Cement (N1.7billion), NEM Insurance (N1.5billion) and Guaranty Trust Bank (N892.0million) were the top traded stocks by value. Dangote Cement raises quality bar, unveils BlocMaster Performance across sectors was equally positive as all Indices u closed in the green. The Oil & Gas index advanced the most, up 5.7 percent due to gains in SEPLAT (+9.9 percent ) and Oando (+1.1 percent). The Consumer and Industrial Goods indices trailed, up 5.5 percent and 2.6 percent respectively following price appreciation in Nestle (+10.0 percent ), Nigerian Breweries (+2.6percent), Dangote Sugar (+10.0 percent) and Dangote Cement (+3.7 percent). Similarly, buying interest in Guaranty Trust Bank(+1.5 percent), Zenith Bank(+1.3 percent), NEM Insurance (+6.1 percent) and Custodian (+1.9 percent) drove the Banking (+1.4 percent), Insurance (+1.0 percent) Indices higher. Investors’sentiments diverge over Access, Diamond Investor sentiment strengthened as market breadth improved as 36 stock advanced against 5 stocks that declined. The best performers were Diamond Bank (+10.0 percent), Dangote Sugar (+10.0 percent) and Stanbic IBTC (+10.0 percent) while Tantalizer (-4.8 percent) and John Holt (-2.2 percent ) led laggards. Analysts at Afrinvest Research said: “We expect market performance to be positive in subsequent sessions till year end largely driven by portfolio re-balancing.”
culled from Vanguard