Banking, Insurance Sectors Drive NGX Index Higher by 29bps
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) top sectoral indexes, including banking and insurance sectors, boosted equity portfolio value by 29 basis points on Tuesday as investors began to re-enter positions in companies with growth potential.
Positive price appreciation in GTCO and Lafarge Africa with ticker WAPCO supported gains recorded by some lightweight companies with relatively lower market capitalisation.
Leading performers included REGALINS, MECURE, ETRANZACT, DAARCOMM, and DEAPCAP, while UNILEVER, FTNCOCOA, ELLAHLAKES, LINKASSURE, and BERGER were among the notable underperformers.
Gainers include: WAPCO 6.15%, MANSARD 6.13%, AIICO 4.44%, INTBREW 4.07%, UCAP 3.85%, PZ 2.41%, FCMB 2.38%, ACCESSCORP 0.78%, FIDELITYBK 0.74%, GTCO 0.54%, UBA 0.43%, ZENITHBANK 0.38%, among others.
The benchmark index posted a gain for the third consecutive session, inching up by 29bps to settle at 139,796.11 points. Simultaneously, investors gained N254.0 billion, with market capitalisation settling at N88.5 trillion on Tuesday.
The session’s positive outcome was driven by renewed interest in Lafarge Africa trading under ticker: WAPCO (+6.15%), INTBREW (+4.07%) and GTCO (+0.54%).
According to stockbrokers, overall sentiments in the local bourse remained upbeat, with market breadth at 1.84x, as 35 gainers outpaced 19 laggards. REGALINS (+10.00%) led the gainers’ log, while UNILEVER (-9.79%) led the laggards.
Stockbrokers reported that activity on the board was, however, weaker for the session, with volume and value traded declining sharply by 30.46% and 29.70% respectively, to settle at N659.2 million units valued at N12.5 billion.
FCMB led the charts for both volume and value, as 202.5 million units (30.72% of total volume) were exchanged, worth N2.1 billion (16.77% of total value).
Investment firm CardinalStone Securities Limited said this was facilitated by structured trades executed totalling 190.0 million units at N10.35.
Sectoral performance was broadly bullish, with 4 major indices closing positive. Leading the charge was the Insurance Index (+0.98%), as positive sentiments persisted, driven by MANSARD (+6.13%) and AIICO (+4.44%).
The Industrial Goods index (+0.85%) was boosted by renewed sentiments in WAPCO (+6.15%), while the Banking (+0.43%) and the Consumer Goods (+0.28%) indices were buoyed by buy interests in GTCO (+0.54%) and INTBREW (+4.07%), respectively.
The Oil and Gas index (-0.05%) lagged, dragged by losses in OANDO (-0.53%). The Commodity Index closed flat. #Banking, Insurance Sectors Drive NGX Index Higher by 29bps Insurance Companies Get 12-Month Window for Recapitalisation