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Nigerian Stock Exchange Watch: Bulls Take Off in August as ASI Gains 1.16%

By Afolabi Ogunde on August 1, 2012

The Nigerian Stock Exchange had a bright start to the new month as the bulls took off in today’s trading causing the bourse to ascend by 1.16%.

A healthy uptick in the price of Dangote Cement (+3.51%) helped the fortunes of the market today.

The banking sub-index also gained 1.06% as Access Bank (-2.19%) was the only top-tier bank with a price decline today.
Zenith (+3.89%), UBA (+2.05%), First Bank (+1.66%) and GTBank (+0.64%) recorded significant levels of demand at higher prices.

The losers in the sector were led by Skye (-4.12%), Union (-3.87%) and Fidelity (-2.21%).

In the Infrastructure sub-sector, Dangote Cement was not the only bullish participant. Portland Paints (+4.75%) saw high appreciation following demand for the stock as part of UAC Nigeria Plc’s expansion drive.

DN Meyer (+4%) another paint company also saw price appreciation.

The Consumer Goods sub-index gained a marginal 0.10% today. UAC (+0.4%), Unilever (+2.86%), Int’l Brew (+1.94%) and Nascon (+1.30%) were some of the participants in the green.

The Insurance sub-index lost big, shedding 200 basis points as Mansard Insurance (-5%) and Custodian (-4.7%) retreated in today’s trading.

The volume of shares traded today increased significantly as huge demand for Fidelity and Union diagnostic skewed the figures.

The market capitalization rose to N7.45 trillion and the year-to-date performance swelled to 12.54%.

Gainers chart