The Nigerian Stock Exchange snapped a 5 day losing streak after the all share index closed positively at 0.5%. The Nigerian Stock Exchange has been on a week long losing streak, which began last Wednesday (28th of August). The stock exchange also closed on a negative note, on Tuesday, after the National Bureau of Statistics announced that Nigeria had exited recession. Trading however shut down for a few hours on Tuesday due to a glitch.
GUINNESS topped the gainers’ chart, closing 10.24% higher , to close at NGN87.39. The beer maker released its audited accounts on Tuesday. Next was REDSTAREX (+9.82%), AIRSERVICE (+4.93%), AGLEVENT (+4.62%) and DIAMONDBNK (+4.42%).
In contrast, PZ led the loser’s table after recording a decline of 4.98%, to close at NGN25.94. Other tickers featured in the losers’ category include; MORISON (-4.88%), LINKASSURE (-4.48%), FIRSTALUM (-3.57%) and AIICO (-3.51%).
The market performance as measured by the NSE sector indices revealed that the NSEFBT10 outperformed other sectors, advancing by 1.07%. Also in the green zone were NSEBNK10 (+0.71%) and NSEINS10 (+0.15%), while NSEOILG5 ( -1.07%) and NSEIND (-3.53%) closed in the red.
Leading stockbroker Meristem, explained that the day’s performance was as a result of the price appreciation recorded on market heavyweights, NB and DANGCEM. Trickles of bargain-hunting were also witnessed on certain large-cap banking tickers. We expect the current positive sentiments to linger for the rest of the week. In total, there were 22 gainers and 23 losers.
The NBS had announced on Wednesday that Nigerian has exited a recession after it posted a paltry real GDP growth rate of 0.55%. The country before now struggled through 5 straight quarters of negative real GDP growth rate as the economy reeled from one of its toughest economic travails.
The Nigerian stock market, which is typically a bellwether for the economy, started rebounding in April after the CBN had introduced the investor and exporter window. This was after a two year losing streak that began when oil prices crashed first in 2014. Investors fled the market in anticipation that the economy was going south.