Nigerian stocks begin March bullish, UACN, BUACEMENT, AIICO rally high

Nigerian stocks ended the first trading session of the week positive. The All Share Index improved by 0.33% to close at 39,931.63 index points.

Year-to-date return and market capitalization settled at -0.84% and N20.89 trillion, respectively.

• Investor sentiment as measured by the market breadth was however negative today, weaker at 0.70x on 17 advancers and 24 decliners.
• A total volume of 543.9 million units of shares, valued at N1.88 billion exchanged hands in 4,673 deals.
• The most traded stocks by volume were WEMABANK (369.67 million units) and ZENITHBANK (20.61 million units), while both also topped value by (N529 million) for ZENITH BANK and (N240.32 million) for WEMABANK.
• UACN (+6.67%) led the gainer’s chart today, while NASCON (-9.97%) was the top loser.

Top gainers

1. UACN up 6.67% to close at N8
2. AIICO up 5.22% to close at N1.21
3. VERITASKAP up 5.00% to close at N0.21
4. BUACEMENT up 3.82% to close at N74.75
5. NEIMETH up 2.73% to close at N1.88

Top losers

1. NASCON down 9.97% to close at N14.45
2. CHAMPION down 9.92% to close at N2.27
3. PZ down 9.43% to close at N4.8
4. LASACO down 8.94% to close at N1.12
5. SOVRENINS down 7.41% to close at N0.25

Outlook

Nigerian bourse ended the first trading session of March on a bullish note amid earning results trickling in.

• Price appreciation in BUACEMENT (+3.82%), UBA (+2.73%) and ZENITHBANK (+1.38%) moved the NSE industrial and banking index up by 1.47% and 0.25%.
• Nairametrics, however, envisages caution in selecting stocks, as market indicators show growing uncertainty in the coming days.