Nigerian stocks edged up by 0.07 per cent on Monday, touching a pinnacle last seen on September 15, 2008 as investors’ cash piled into financial services stocks more than other sectors even though the size of trade was five per cent smaller than Friday’s.
Unilever, United Capital and Access Holdings set the climb in motion in a session during which only 52 of the 115 participating stocks recorded price movement.
On Tuesday, the introduction of two stock futures – NGX Pension Index Futures and NGX 30 Index Futures – debuted in an epoch-session marking the start of the first exchange-traded derivatives market in West Africa.
“You can gain exposure to the NGX Pension Index, the NGX 30 Index without necessarily, for instance, paying the full amount that you would have needed” if you were to invest in each of the component stocks of either of the contracts, Ahmed Jinad, head of investment research at Meristem Securities.
Market breadth, a barometer for determining the level of sentiment towards trade, was negative as 31 losers were reported compared to 21 advancers.
“We expect some slowdown in the equities market after the heavy bargain hunting activities observed in the market last week,” said analysts at broker and investment bank United Capital.
“Also, we expect the dividend reinvesting activities to slow down. As a result, we expect the local bourse to resume selling mode in the coming week.”
The all-share index grew by 35.48 points to 47,545.86, while market capitalisation rose to N25.6 trillion. Year to date, the index is up by 11.31 per cent.
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TOP FIVE GAINERS
Meyer topped the gainers’ chart, appreciating by 10 per cent to close at N1.76. Guinness went up 6.86 per cent to N74.80. NPF Microfinance Bank rose to N2.20, notching up 6.80 per cent in the process. Cadbury added 5 per cent to end the trade at N8.40. Sterling Bank completed the top 5, climbing by 3.57 per cent to N1.45.
TOP FIVE LOSERS
FCMB was the worst performing stock, declining by 3.23 per cent to close at N10.28. Academy shed 9.72 per cent to close at N1.30. John Holt fell to N0.78, losing 9.30 per cent. Japaul Gold declined 9.09 per cent to N0.30. Neimeth closed at N1.45, going down by 8.32 per cent.
TOP FIVE TRADES
A total of 365.5 million shares estimated at N7.1 billion were traded in 5,790 deals.
Fidelity Bank was the most active stock with 33.8 million units of its shares worth N132.1 million traded in 272 deals. Access Holdings’ shares of 24 million units and priced at N247.1 million exchanged hands in 249 transactions. MTN had 2.2 million shares valued at N4.7 billion traded in 359 deals. Omatek traded 17.9 million shares estimated at N3.6 million in 3 transactions. RT Briscoe traded 15.1 million shares valued at N8.9 million in 23 deals.
