NSE: Banking stocks moves index higher by 13bps

The Nigerian equities market reversed the 3-day downtrend on Thursday as bargain hunting in banking stocks drove the index 13 basis points upward to settle at 25,936.24 points.

The lift in the lull is attributable to gains in Stanbic at 2.9 per cent, United Bank ot Africa at 2.9 per cent, Zenith Bank at 1.4 per cent and Guaranty Trust Bank at 0.6 per cent.

Accordingly, YTD loss eased slightly to -3.5 per cent as investors in turn gained N11.5 billion with market capitalisation settling at N9.0 trillion.

However, activity level relaxed as volume and value traded decreased 50.3 per cent and 12.0 per cent to settle at 151.5 million units and N1.4 billion respectively.

Performance across sector was broadly bullish as all indices closed in the green aside for the Oil & Gas index which declined 1.6 per cent as losses in Forte Oil Plc (-9.7 per cent) and Seplat Plc more than offset gains in OANDO (+4.8 per cent), while the Industrial Goods index closed flat.

The Banking index gained the most, up 0.9 per cent on account of buying interest in United Bank for Africa at +2.9 per cent and Zenith Bank Plc at +1.4 per cent. Likewise, the Insurance and Consumer Goods indices closed 0.6 per cent and  two basis points higher consequent on gains in Contisure (+4.7 per cent), AIICO (+1.7 per cent), Guinness Nigeria Plc (+4.2 per cent) and Unilever Plc (+0.8 per cent).

Investor sentiment also improved as 20 stocks advanced against 17 decliners. The top gainers were Unity Bank Plc, Oando Plc and Continental Insurance Plc, while Forte Oil, UAC-PROP  and Transnational Corporation Plc were the top losers.

According to analysts at Afrinvest, market performance was largely attributable to bargain hunters’ interest in banking stocks. They predict the market to close positive on Friday considering the cheap valuation of stocks that had declined in prior trading sessions this week, however, expecting market to close the week lower.