Nigerian stocks ascend for second trading day but turnover slides

Nigerian stocks advanced for second trading session on Monday in continuation of a swift rally that began on Friday, pushing the benchmark index further north to 48,270.3 points.

The equity market of Africa’s largest economy is showing an unusual resilience this year, having survived four successive interest rate hikes this year alone and faced with muted cash-flow from overseas investors, a majority of them fearing Nigeria’s forex crisis could get their investment stuck.

Shares have returned 13 per cent so far this year, bucking those threats.

Turnover contracted by almost as much as half although the size of Monday’s trade bettered Friday’s by 16 per cent.

Oil palm processor Presco pivoted Monday’s trade backed by BUA Cement and Guinness.

“We anticipate potential market gains to be moderated as investors book profits, switch asset classes, and turn their attention towards the fixed-income markets following the MPC’s recent 100bps MPR hike decision,” said analysts at United Capital in a note seen by PREMIUM TIMES.

A positive market breadth was reported, showing 19 gainers against 16 laggards at the end of trade.

The all-share index rose 115.6 points to 48,270.2 points, while market capitalisation closed higher at N26.3 trillion.

TOP FIVE GAINERS

Guinness traded up by 10 per cent to close at N69.3. Eterna Oil went up 8.8 per cent to N6.44. Royal Exchange rose to N0.78, notching up 8.3 per cent in the process. Linkage Assurance added 7.5 per cent to end trade at N0.43. Presco completed the top 5, climbing by 6.6 per cent to N120.5.

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TOP FIVE LOSERS

Geregu was the worst performing stock, declining by 9.9 per cent to close at N110.7. SCOA shed 9.4 per cent to close at N0.96. Thomas Wyatt fell to N0.40, losing 9.1 per cent. RT Briscoe slumped to N0.25, recording 7.4 per cent depreciation. Lasaco closed at N0.85, going down by 4.5 per cent.

TOP FIVE TRADES

In all, 645 million shares estimated at N4.2 billion were traded in 3,486 deals.

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FBN Holdings traded the most shares with 83.4 million units of its common stock worth N921.7 million traded in 97 transactions. Zenith transacted 11.5 million shares priced at N258.5 million exchanged hands in 263 transactions. Transcorp had 10.5 million shares valued at N12.3 million traded in 52 deals. GTCO traded 8.3 million shares estimated at N176.6 million in 279 transactions. WAPCO traded 6.9 million shares valued at N150.1 million in 212 deals.