The ASI surged near pre-oil price crash levels today, its highest since August 2014 as sustained market euphoria pushed prices to fresh records leaving the bourse in overbought territory. It was a frenzy across the board – top banks such as Zenith(+6.73%) and Guaranty(+5.05%) closed on bid. FBNH(+5.56%), UBA(+4.60%) and Access(+3.02%) also ticked higher on decent demand despite huge profit taking. Cement majors such as Dangcem(+4%) and Wapco(+4%) rose on strong demand. Consumers were also impressive – last year’s surprise laggard NB(+4.29%) jumped on bargain hunting, there were upticks in Unilever(+4.77%) and Flourmills(+2.77%).
Today’s market activities further reinforced the strength of today’s rally – turnover closed high at N13.2bn ($36.6m) with Zenith($5.5m), NB($4.7m) and Dangcem($4.6m) topping the list. Today’s +3.6% gain lifted ytd return to +9.34%. The local bourse is now the best performing market globally, we expect the rally to ease up on profit taking in coming sessions.
