Nigerian stocks halt brief slide on telecoms gains

Nigerian stocks advanced by 0.78 per cent on Monday in partial reversal of the decline reported at the previous trading session.

The development helped the main equity index add 419.9 basis points at the close of trading Monday.

Airtel Africa was the main spur of growth, supported by Living Trust Mortgage Bank, at a session during which transaction volume contracted by 11 per cent.

“Going into the week, we expect an extended bearish momentum across board, with post-election worries stimulating the bear market,” analysts at United Capital said in an outlook note seen by PREMIUM TIMES.

“However, we believe that this brief bearish momentum would present further opportunities for the BUY-SIDE to increase holdings (in the near-term) on fundamentally sound stocks with improved valuation and dividend performance,” they added.

Market breadth was negative as total of 15 losers were recorded compared to 14 decliners.

The all-share index closed higher at 54,224.4 basis points and market capitalisation at N29.5 trillion.

Conoil led gainers, appreciating by 9.9 per cent to close at N38.8. CWG went up by 9.9 per cent to N0.89. John Holt rose to N1.46, notching up 9.8 per cent in the process. Living Trust added 9.6 per cent to end trade at N2.52. NEM climbed by 9.6 per cent to N2.18.

TCapital Hotel was the worst performing stock, declining by 9.4 per cent to close at N2.50. Vitafoam shed 7.2 per cent to close at N19.4. Chams fell to N0.27, losing 6.9 per cent. NAHCO declined to N8.10, recording 3.6 per cent depreciation. ETI closed at N12, going down by 2.83 per cent.

Altogether, 154.6 million shares estimated at N5.5 billion were traded in 3,095 deals.

GTCO was the most active stock with 36.7 million units of its shares worth N923.7 million traded in 251 deals. Zenith traded 30.3 million shares priced at N758.1 million in 315 transactions. AIICO had 8.3 shares valued at N5 million traded in 31 deals. Mansard traded 7.8 million shares estimated at N15.6 million in 41 transactions. Living Trust traded 6.3 million shares valued at N13.5 in 24 deals.