Rising investor appetite for MTNN pushes NSE ASI back to 30,000 level

Chinwendu Obienyi

Buying interests in the shares of MTNN, Dangote Cement and GT Bank, drove the All Share Index (ASI) northwards by 2.88 per cent to 30,218.14points, above the psychological benchmark of 30,000.00 points, thus sustaining the bullish streak of the equities maket.

Consequently, YTD loss moderated to -3.9 per cent while market capitalisation of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) increased by N372.1 billion to settle at N13.309 trillion from N12.937 trillion recorded on Monday.

Activity level also improved as volume and value traded advanced 56.9 and 116.7 per cent to 335.59 million units and N17.18 billion respectively, exchanged in 4,453 deals as compared with 214.42 million units and N7.93 billion that changed hands in 4,644 deals in the previous trading session.

Traders say that following sustained interest in MTNN, the bullish run in the equities market is expected to continue. At the sound of the closing gong yesterday, performance accross counters of the market was positive as 4 out of 5 indices either advanced or stayed flat, save for the Consumer Goods index which declined 0.4 per cent due to loss in UNILEVER (-1.5 per cent).

The Industrial Goods index led gainers, up 2.1 per cent on the back of price appreciation in Dangote Cement (+7.0 per cent). Similarly, bargain hunting in GT Bank (+0.9 per cent), Forte oil (+2.3 per cent) drove the positive performance of the Banking and Oil & Gas indices which were up 0.9 and 0.5 per cent respectively. The Insurance index, however, closed on a flat note. Investor sentiment, however weakened as 16 stocks advanced against 20 that declined. The best performers in Tuesday’s  were MTNN (+10.0 per cent), Africa Prudential (+9.4 per cent) and Thomas Wyatt (+8.8 per cent) while Livestock Feeds (-10.0 per cent), JULI (-9.6 per cent) and Afromedia (-8.9 per cent) led laggards.

MTNN was top on the volume charts, selling over 110.71 million shares worth N14.58 billion. FBN Holdings traded 31.43 million shares valued at N219.40 million while Sterling Bank sold 26.13 million shares worth N60.16 million.