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Chinwendu Obienyi
MTN Nigeria Communications Plc’s debut on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) could not have gone any better as investors took positions in the telecom company’s stocks finishing Friday’s trading session in the green.
The telecom company’s shares, which were introduced at N90 per share on the Nigerian bourse’s Premium Board on admission of its 20.35 billion ordinary shares on Thursday, traded about 48.35 million shares, which was worth N5.52 billion.
Monday’s trading session had begun the week on a negative note as the All Share Index (ASI) shed 0.98 per cent to settle at 28,565.67 points due to sell-offs in the shares of Nestle, GT Bank and Stanbic.
As a result, the market capitalisation declined N140.1 billion to N10.701 trillion while YTD loss worsened to -9.1 per cent.
The bearish performance extended to Tuesday as the ASI fell by 0.47 per cent to 28,430.37 points, primarily due to losses in Nestle, FBN Holdings and Okomu Oil while market capitalisation declined further by N23 billion to close at N10.678 trillion.
Wednesday’s trading session saw the Nigerian equities market sustaining its losing streak for the third trading session of the week as the benchmark index declined by 0.48 per cent to 28,286.08 points while investors lost N51 billion to settle at N10.626 trillion. Thus, the Month-to-Date and the Year-to-Date losses increased to -3.00 and -10.00 per cent respectively.
However, the local bourse closed in the green halting an eight-day bearish trend as bargain hunting in Unilever, Union Bank of Nigeria and NPF Microfinance Bank drove the benchmark index 0.5 per cent higher, to settle at 28,438.19 points.
Consequently, YTD loss moderated to -9.5 per cent while market capitalisation rose by N1.8 billion to close at N12.525 trillion following the new listing of MTN Nigeria which came with a new trading ticker, MTNN.
A total of 5.5 million units shares of MTNN was traded at N99/share valued at N548.6 million.
Friday’s session was not any different as the ASI notched up 1.53 per cent to close the week at 28,871.93 points while market capitalisation increased by N191 billion to close at N191 billion.
At the close of trading, MTNN led 14 others on the gainers’ chart with 10 per cent to close at N108.90 per share. Cutix was next with 9.09 per cent to close at N1.80, Royal Exchange Plc rose by 9.09 per cent to close at 0.24 kobo, Chams garnered 8.82 per cent to close at 0.37 kobo while Transcorp gained 8.77 per cent to close at N1.24. On the flipside, Forte Oil led 13 others on the losers’ chart with a loss of N10 per cent to close at N28.35 per share. Champion followed with 9.30 per cent to close at N1.17, FCMB fell by 8.82 per cent to close at N1.55, Courtville lost 8 per cent to close at 0.23 kobo while Japaul oil dipped by 7.14 per cent to close at 0.26 kobo.
Transcorp topped the volume chart with a sale of 58.59 million shares worth N72.24 million. MTNN traded 48.35 million shares valued at N5.52 billion while Access Bank transacted 27.42 million shares valued at N178.47 million.
Overall, the volume and value of stocks traded stood at 267.84 million and N7.52 billion, respectively in 3,684 deals.
Reacting, analysts at Afrinvest told Sunday Sun that “following the significant buying interest on the newly listed MTNN on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, we expect the local bourse to maintain its bullish performance as investors look to extend trade in MTN’s fundamentally sound stock”.
Their counterparts in Cordros Capital said: “We reiterate our cautious trading pattern in the short term. Meanwhile, we believe stable macroeconomic fundamentals and compelling valuation remain supportive of recovery in the mid-to-long term”.
