The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All-Share Index on Wednesday crossed 39,000 mark just after the 38,000 mark on Tuesday.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the index rose by 580.88 points or 1.51 per cent to close at 39,075.30 against 38,494.42 achieved on Tuesday.
Mallam Garba Kurfi, the Managing Director, APT Securities and Funds Ltd., told NAN that the growth, in spite of the forthcoming Yuletide celebration, was due to renewed confidence of foreign investors in the market.
Kurfi said that foreign investors were seriously taking position in the nation’s stock market to meet up with their portfolio requirements.
He said that they were increasing their stake in stocks with strong fundamentals, noting that most equities on the exchange were trading below their fair value.
“Some stocks are grossly trading below their intrinsic value when compared with their Earnings Per Share (EPS)”, Kurfi said.
Mr Ambrose Omordion, the Chief Operating Officer, InvestData Ltd., attributed the development to increasing foreign inflow into the bond and stock markets.
Omordion said that yields on bond was still looking up, while many stocks remained attractive on the stronger numbers emanating from companies.
He said that positive economic data and the rising external reserve contributed to the growth.
Similarily, the market capitalisation inched N202 billion or 1.51 per cent to close at N13.608 trillion compared with N13.406 trillion achieved on Tuesday.
Further analysis of the price movement table indicated that Okomu Oil Palm led the gainers’ chart with a gain of N2 .78 to close at N70 per share.
Nigerian Breweries garnered N2.40 to close at N140.40 , while Flour Mills Nigeria added N1.60 to close at N34.70 per share.
Unilever gained N1.45 to close at N44.40, while National Salt rose by N1.38 to close at N17.12 per share.
On the other hand, GlaxosmithKline topped the losers’ chart, dropping by N4.14 to close at N21.66 per share.
Julius Berger trailed with a loss of N1 to close at N27, while PZ dropped 89k to close at N22.01, and Red Star Express, 13k, to close at N4.91 per share.
The volume of shares traded closed higher, appreciating by 34.71 per cent as investors bought and sold 703.68 million shares valued at N7.29 billion transacted in 6,125 deals.
This was against the 522.35 million shares worth N7.52 billion exchanged in 5,150 deals on Tuesday.
Custodian and Allied Insurance was the most active with 131.82 million shares valued at N494.40 million.
UBA sold 92.46 million shares valued at N986.68 million, while FBN Holdings accounted for 86.45 million shares worth N732.07 million.
Zenith Bank traded 71.18 million shares valued at N1.84 billion, while Transcorp traded 46.53 million shares worth N69.85 million.