Stock market sustains rally, as index rises 2.8%

Stories by Chinenye Anuforo

The Nigerian stock market sustained its bullish streak as the benchmark index closed in the green zone for the 7th consecutive trading session.
The market index surged 2.8 per cent to settle at 30,314.14 points, crossing the 30,000 mark for the first time since June 24, 2016.
Accordingly, market capitalisation increased N282 billion to close at N10.5 trillion. The positive close was majorly driven by the gains in Dangote Cement, Nigerian Breweries, FBN Holdings and Zenith. Market activity also strengthened as volume and value traded rose 26.6 per cent and 38.6 per cent to settle at 434.4 million units and N4.6 billion respectively in 5,107 deals.
Performance across sectors largely trended in the same direction as the benchmark indices all closed higher except for the Oil & Gas index which fell 0.2 per cent as investors continued to take profit in Oando and Seplat.
The Consumer and Industrial Goods indices surged 2.5 per cent and 2.4 per cent respectively on the back of uptrend in Dangote Cement and Nigerian Breweries.
Similarly, the Banking index rose 1.7 per cent on the back of gains in Zenith, UBA, Access and ETI. Likewise, the Insurance index trended 1.5 per cent northwards as Mansard, NEM and AIICO closed higher.
The best performed stocks were FBNH, May & Baker and Learn Africa while Linkage Assurance, Oando and 7UP led the losers.
Analysts with the Afrinvest argued that despite the sustained market rally and the benchmark index’s 14-Day RSI closing at 85.7 points (indicating that market is in the overbought region) trading multiples show that Nigerian equities remain cheaper and attractive when compared to its peers.