March 4, 2016/Cowry Assets

Renewed Bargain Hunting Lifts NSE ASI by 6.57% W-o-W

The Nigerian Stock Exchange recorded renewed bargain hunting activities which resulted  in upswing  in  equities  prices amid decline  in investments transaction volumes and Naira votes fell by 65.66% and 25.35% to1.54 billion shares and N8.76 billion  respectively.

Consequently, overall market performance measures, NSE ASI rose w-w by 6.57% to 25,820.10 points while market capitalization rose by N545 billion to N8.33 trillion.

Similarly, NSE Premium Index spiked by 20.67% to 1,516.69_ points. The boost in equities market performance was driven by bull run in stocks from the financial and industrial subsectors. NSE Banking Index, NSE Insurance Index and NSE Industrial Index revved by 5.45%,1.42% and 11.38% to 241.41points, 129.38 points and 2,017.85 points  respectively.

Alongside trading activities, building materials manufacturer, Dangote Cement Plc (FY Dec 2015), reported a 26.6% increase in turnover to N491.7 billion while profit after tax rose by 13.7% to N181.3 billion. The cement giant also declared a cash dividend of N8.00 a share which translates to a yield of 4.76% based on Friday’s closing share price of N168. This week, we anticipate sustained bargain hunting in expectation of likely corporate actions from some blue chip companies.

Cowry Weekly Financial Markets Review & Outlook