Nigerian Stock Exchange Watch: Market Responds Positively to Love Bug

The Nigerian Stock Exchange recorded brisk business today even as Valentine epidemic was underway in the commercial capital- Lagos. The stock market must have borrowed Cupid’s arrow to give investors a positive vibe as the All Share Index jumped 0.41% to close at 20,667 after several consecutive days of losses.

The banking sub-sector appreciated by 1.48% as investors lock in their positions in order to capitalize on the upcoming results reporting season. First Bank led the sector appreciating by a full 500 points, other winners today included Diamond (+3.33%), Skye (+3.13%), Fidelity (+2.94%), GTBank (+2.63%) and Access (+1.55%).

Taking  a plunge today were UBA (-4.65%), Stanbic (-1.43%) and Sterling (-1.23%).

Across the Consumer Goods space, Nigerian Breweries (+1.53%) led the Breweries sub-indice. The Food and Beverages sector saw Dangote subsidiaries, Dangote Sugar (-4.88%), and Dangote Flour (-4.31%) decline. Other losers included Cadbury (-4.84%).

Aiico (+4%) and Goldlink (+4.76%) led the Insurance sub-sector, whilst on the flip side Custodian (-3.73%), GT Assur (-4.31%) and Intercontinental Wapic (-3.85%) recorded losses.

The volume of shares (860 million) traded today appreciated by 241% led primarily by a large block of UBA (647 million) which accounted for 75% of the market activity.

The value of shares (N 2.56 billion) also appreciated by 84%.

Today’s market price leaders were:

Trailing the market in pricing terms were:

The activity charts were spike by UBA, lets see the others who made a difference: