With the help of an uptick in optimism, the equities division of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) gained more than N580 billion on Tuesday thanks to gains by Dangote and BUA Cement.
With backing from lightweight company stocks like Eterna, Transcorp, and Okomu Oil among others, buying activity in the cement names powered a major advance noted in the local exchange.
The Nigerian Exchange All-Share Index increased 1.65% on the day, reaching 65,999.97 points and surpassing its previous high of February 2008 before ending at 65,669.29 points as optimistic optimism continued to rule the market.
Ticker: DANGCEM increased by 9.27% when the company’s share buy-back program got going, fueling the momentum. BUACEMENT gained 6.59%, TRANSCORP soared by 4.44%, and ETERNA increased by 9.94%. Price increases for DANGSUGAR and OKOMUOIL were 2.16% and 0.55%, respectively.
As alpha hunters actively invested before the announcement of the second quarter earnings, the TRANSCOHOT market price also climbed by 10%. As a result, the stock market’s year-to-date gain increased to 28.13% even though there were 38 gainers compared to 33 losers.
The Industrial Goods (+7.5%) and Oil & Gas (+0.7%) indexes had gains, while the Banking (-3.1%), Insurance (-2.4%), and Consumer Goods (-0.4%) indices posted losses. Sectoral performance was mixed.
Data from the exchange showed that activity level nosedived, with total deals, volume, and value decreasing by 38.82%, 54.07%, and 57.28%, respectively, to 8,922 trades, N844.72 million units, and N9.41 billion.
In terms of volume, CHAMS emerged as the most actively traded stock, with 91.71 million shares worth N117.15 million changing hands in 412 deals. Overall, the equities market capitalization gained N580.23 billion to close the day at N35.757 trillion.
