The Nigerian equity market on Wednesday closed on a bullish note occasioned by the rally in the share prices of Airtel Africa and BUA Cement as they gained 9.99% and 9.09% respectively.
The All Share Index grew further by 2.40% to settle at 38,803.74 points from the previous close of 37,893.61 points. The Market Capitalisation increased to N20.281 trillion from the previous close of N19.805 trillion, which translates to N476 billion gain.
An aggregate of 1.497 billion units of shares were traded in 4,316 deals, valued at N18.748 billion.
The market breadth closed positive as 26 stocks appreciated in their share prices against 7 stocks that declined in their share prices.
Stocks to Watch
- Airtel Africa is listed both on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and London Stock Exchange (LSE). It is one of the heavy weight stocks with market capitalisation of N3.2 trillion. The share price of Airtel today hits a year high of N851.8. from the previous close of N774.4. Investors are taking advantage of the dual listing of Airtel to move their funds. A position in Airtel is a good option for some investors to indirectly move their money out of the country because of the dual listing. For Instance if you take position in Airtel with Naira on NSE, when you trade it on London Stock Exchange, you will get Pound Sterling. At that, you have conveniently move your funds out without stress.
- Dangote Cement: Traded flat today at N245 after rallying for two consecutive days this week on backdrop of its share buyback programme scheduled to commence on the 30th of December 2020. The share buyback will reduce the Company’s Share Outstanding. The earnings per share will go up and the price will also go up. Improved earnings per share will bring about improved dividend payout going forward.
- Access Bank traded flat at N8.55. The stock is currently trading 28.75% away from its 52 weeks high of N12. At that, there is uptrend potential in the share price of Access Bank.
- FBN Holdings closed flat at N7. It is trading 22.22% away from its 52 weeks high of N9 which implies an uptrend potential for the share price of the big elephant.
- Zenith Bank closed flat at N24.5. It is trading 14.04% away from its 52 weeks high of N28.5.
- WAPCO grew to N22.05 from N22. It is trading 15.19% away from its 52 weeks high of N26, which implies an uptrend potential for the share price of the company.
- UBA grew to N8.50 from N8.40. It is trading 13.27% away from its 52 weeks high of N9.8. There is growth potential in the share price of the bank.
- Guaranty Trust Bank closed flat at N33. It is trading 14.17% away from its 52 weeks high of N38.45, which suggest an uptrend potential for the share price of Guaranty Trust Bank.
Percentage Gainers
ABC Transport and Japaul Gold led other gainers with 10% growth to close at N0.33 and N0.44 respectively.
Airtel Africa, Eterna Plc and BOC Gases Plc among other gainers also grew their share prices by 9.99%, 9.98% and 9.85% respectively.
Percentage Losers
FCMB led other price decliners as it shed 3.97% of its share price to close at N2.90 from the previous close of N3.02.
PZ, LASACO and AXA Mansard among other price decliners also shed their share prices by 3.64%, 3.13% and 3.00% respectively.
Volume Drivers
- Veristas Kapital Assurance traded about 121.16 million units of its shares in 3 deals, valued at N24.23 million.
- Flour Mills of Nigeria traded about 51.19 million units of its shares in 95 deals, valued at N1.36 billion.
- BUA Cement traded about 50.66 million units of its shares in 49 deals, valued at N2.787 billion.