Equities in marginal gain despite protests

TRACKING___Trading on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) continued unhindered yesterday despite disruptions caused by ongoing protests against police brutality, otherwise known as #Endsars.

Benchmark indices at the Exchange indicated net capital gain of N4 billion, nudging the average year-to-date return to 6.8 per cent.

The All Share Index (ASI)- the common value-based index that tracks all share prices at the Exchange inched up from its opening index of 28,658.31 points to close at 28,665.82 points. Aggregate market value of all quoted equities rose marginally from N14.979 trillion to close at N14.983 trillion.

The positive overall market position was due to gains in the consumer goods sector. The NSE Consumer Goods Index played the contrarian with average gain of 1.9 per cent.

Other sectoral indices closed negative. The NSE Insurance Index dropped by 1.2 per cent. The NSE Banking Index dipped by 1.0 per cent. The NSE Oil & Gas Index declined by 0.9 per cent while the NSE Industrial Goods Index dipped by 0.2 per cent.

There were 23 gainers to 17 losers. Nigerian Breweries led the gainers with a gain of N2.30 to close at N51.50. Flour Mills of Nigeria rose by N1 to close at N23. International Breweries chalked up 58 kobo to close at N6.44. Julius Berger Nigeria added 45 kobo to close at N17.35 while UAC of Nigeria rose by 30 kobo to close at N7 per share.

On the negative side, 11, formerly Mobil Oil Nigeria, led the losers with a drop of N8.60 to close at N178.30. 11 is seeking voluntary delisting from the NSE. Guinness Nigeria dropped by 65 kobo to close at N17. Lafarge Africa and Guaranty Trust Bank lost 40 kobo each to close at N18.10 and N30.40 respectively while Unilever Nigeria dropped by 35 kobo to close at N13.15 per share.

Total turnover stood at 297.3 million shares valued at N2.93 billion in 4,736 deals. United Bank for Africa (UBA) was the most active stock with a turnover of 72.4 million shares valued at N506.8 million. It was followed by Zenith Bank with 27.2 million shares worth N568.2 million.

“We are not optimistic of sustained bullish performance in subsequent trading sessions. However, investors may position ahead of third quarter earnings releases,” Afrinvest Securities stated.