The Nigerian Stock Exchange continued today on a positive note, as the All-Share Index improved by 1.21% to close at 41,584.94 index points.

Consequently, Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date return increased to 3.24% as market capitalization stands at N21.494 trillion, having added N259 billion.

A total volume of 467 million units of shares, valued at N5.56 billion exchanged hands in 5,990 deals.

• Transnational Corporations (+0.93%) continued to dominate market activity in terms of volume and value at 45.9 million units and N50.5 million respectively.
• Similarly, the market breadth index was positive with 32 gainers against 19 losers.
• RTBRISCOE (+10.00%) led the gainer’s chart today, while JOHNHOLT (-10.00%) was the top loser.
• Sectoral indices closed mostly positive. The NSE Consumer Goods Index led the gainers with 0.54%. The Insurance and Industrial Indexes trailed by 0.40% and 0.25% respectively.
• On the flip side, the NSE Oli & Gas & Banking Indexes dipped by -5.31%  and -0.14%t respectively.

Top gainers

1. AIRTELAFRI up 7.60% to close at N920
2. FIDSON up 8.60% to close at N5.05
3. FLOURMILL up 6.25% to close at N34
4. WAPCO up 3.77% to close at N27.5
5. MTNN up 0.53% to close at N170.9

Top losers

1. SEPLAT down 9.26% to close at N490
2. CUTIX down 7.08% to close at N2.1
3. AFRIPRUD down 1.82% to close at N7
4. CADBURY down 1.54% to close at N9.6
5. ZENITHBANK down 0.94% to close at N26.25

Outlook

Nigerian stocks ended Tuesday’s trading session on an impressive note.

• The upside route followed investors’ interests in WAPCO, Flourmill, and Airtel Africa as their stocks advanced by 3.77 %, 6.25%, and 7.60% respectively.
• Nairametrics however, envisages cautious buying, amid improved market conditions in Nigeria’s financial market.

Nasdaq recorded impressive buying pressures with the so-called “stay-at-home” winners, including Facebook, Apple, and Microsoft, which rose after upbeat results from Netflix Inc recorded last week.

Netflix’s share price had earlier recorded impressive gains after it beat market expectation, powering the video streaming stock to close on the account that it added more customers than expected and revealed it no longer needed debt to build its entertainment empire.

• The positive upbeat guidance on free cash prompted bullish remarks from Wall Street analysts, though some questioned how much of the subscriber growth was pulled forward.
• The Nasdaq index had earlier hit a record high on hopes of impressive earnings later this week from the likes of Apple, Facebook, and Google, but the Dow Jones Industrial Average index, dominated by industrials and airlines, struggled to keep such bullish momentum.

That said, the U.S Equity market generally pulled back from its record highs in recent days, waiting to see if COVID-19 vaccines could reduce COVID-19 infection rates globally.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 0.12%, to settle at 30,960 pints; however, the S&P 500 gained 0.36%, to close at 3,855.36 points and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.69%, to settle at 13,635.99 points.

In a note, Stephen Innes, Chief Global Market Strategist at Axi, spoke on the bullish rally sighted in U.S based tech brands.

“One argument for the outperformance could be that tech enjoys low rates, so the fixed-income performance helps amid lockdowns. After all, in a foreshadowing effect, Netflix rose 16% last week after subscriber numbers soared by a record 37mn in 2020.

“Unsurprisingly, it seems lockdowns and TV go hand in hand and by extension, so does gaming and the use of cutting-edge software and hardware components.

“And with the bulk of Tech market cap (75%) reporting during the next two weeks, it’s clear investors like the pack’s heavyweight leaders instead of buy-the-laggards, leading to these eye-catching moves. And I’m not sure that logic doesn’t make sense.”

What to expect: But at some point, the stock bears might come back to haunt the stock market. There’s nothing in the investment world that’s quite like hitting a patch of black COVID-19 economic ice when traditional investing wisdom suggests the best offence is a good defence by taking your foot off the gas pedal as the most straightforward function of damage control.

The CEO of United Capital Plc, Mr. Peter Ashade has purchased an additional 1.3 million units of the firm’s shares worth N7.19 million, maintaining a 3-monthly buying streak.

This is according to a recent disclosure signed by the firm’s secretary, Leo Okafor, and sent to the Nigerian Stock Exchange market today, as seen by Nairametrics.

The recent deal which took place on the 22nd of January, 2021 saw the United Capital boss purchase an additional 1,330,613 units of the firm’s share at N5.40 per share, totaling N7, 185,310.2.

Nairametrics learned that the recent deal raises the total number of shares purchased by the CEO in the last three months by an additional 6,000,000 units.

What you should know

• Mr. Ashade earlier purchased additional 1.5million units of United Capital Plc shares, worth N8.03 million, as reported by Nairametrics.
• Nairametrics also reported the purchase of one million units of the United Capital Plc shares by its CEO.
• As of the time of reporting this, United Capital Plc share price currently trades at N5.40, down by 0.92%.
• The firm has a current market capitalization of N32.4 billion and 6million outstanding shares.
• The recent deal might be an indicator of strong investors’ confidence in the potentials of the firm.