Gains in Dangote Cement’s stock halt losses at NGX

The bulls resurfaced in the Nigerian equities market as bargain hunting in Dangote Cement, having appreciated by 8.8 per cent, drove the All-Share Index 1.2 per cent higher to 44,283.02 basis points.

At the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) on Wednesday, the benchmark index revved up by 123 basis points, consequently leaving the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns at +1.0 per cent and +3.7 per cent, respectively.

Equities investors, therefore, gained N293.10 billion as the market capitalization settled higher at N24.12 trillion.

Aside from positive sentiment on Dangote Cement shares, gains in Oando, FBN Holdings, BUA Foods and Ecobank Transnational Incorporated also contributed to the overall bullish outing at the local bourse as the share prices of these companies went up by 2.09 per cent, 1.01 per cent, 0.72 per cent and 0.50 per cent, respectively.

Despite the strong bullish performance witnessed in the equities market, as measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative as 22 stocks lost relative to nine gainers.

On the performance chart, MRS and Transnational Express recorded the most significant losses of the day having depreciated in value by 9.7 per cent and 9.3 per cent, respectively; while Dangote Cement and Chams topped the gainers’ list as their respective share values appreciated by 8.8 per cent and 4.4 per cent.

Analyses by sectors indicated that the Insurance, Banking and Consumer Goods indices recorded losses having depreciated by 1.1 per cent, 0.9 per cent and 0.2 per cent, respectively; while the Industrial Goods and Oil & Gas indices posted gains with 4.0 per cent and 0.2 per cent increase, respectively.

Elsewhere, market activity was on a bearish note, with total deals, volume, and value decreasing by 7.64 per cent, 10.10 per cent and 61.97 per cent, respectively, to 3,796 trades, 155.41 million units, and N1.53 billion.

Sterling Bank led the volume chart with 24.28 million units traded while MTN Nigeria led the value chart in deals worth N238.86 million.

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