Trading activities in the last session of the week concluded on a positive note as the All Share Index accelerated by +3.71% to settle at 30,530.69 points. Today’s positive sentiment was possibly due to end of month portfolio activities as well as cherry picking in some large cap stocks amidst robust system liquidity. Gains in Nestle (+10.00%), Mobil (+9.98%) Total (+9.25%),MTNN (+2.86%) together with points amassed by Cement manufactures’ Dangcem (+3.03%) Buacement (+9.90%) and Wapco (+3.89%) largely accounted for the performance. Elsewhere commercial lenders, UBA (+4.05%),Guaranty (+4.00%), Stanbic (+3.33%), Zenithbank (+2.79%), UBN (+2.75%), Access (+2.60%) and Fbnh (+2.36%) as well as selected consumer goods; Intbrew (+10.00%),Uacn (+6.85%), Unilever (+5.70%) advanced.
Market turnover was impressive at N10.50bn ($27.47mln), buoyed by offshore related blocked trades in Stanbic, as well as mixed interest trades in Guaranty and Zenithbank. The NSEASI ytd return improved to +13.74%. We expect the market to witness the same sentiments in the next session, though not ruling out intermittent profit taking.
