Stock market report: Market begins positively

Reports from transactions on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) opened for the week on Monday in an upward trend, as the market indices improved by 0.19 per cent due to price gains by major equities.

Market capitalisation closed higher at N13.739 trillion when compared with N13.712 trillion posted on Friday, while the All-Share Index increased by 80.39 basis points or 1.19 per cent, to close 41,609.50 against the 41,529.11 achieved on Friday.

Julius Berger led the gainers’ table, adding N3.37 to close at N70.87 per share. Conoil came second with N2.50 to close at N54.50, while Cadbury Nigeria appreciated by N2.44, to close at N81.89 per share.

However, Seplat topped the losers’ chart, losing N25.00 to close at N650.00 per share. Lafarge Wapco trailed with a loss of N4.50, to close at N113.50, while Nestle dropped N2.99 to close at N1,080.01 per share.

The volume of shares traded rose by 57.40 per cent as investors staked N3.61 billion on 299.330 million shares transacted in 5,153 deals, against the 190.165 million shares worth N2.66 billion traded in 4,741 deals on Friday.

Transcorp emerged the most-traded stock, accounting for 54.04 million shares worth N246.21 million.

UBA followed with a total of 50.49 million shares valued N391.34 million, while SkyeBank exchanged 32.29 million shares worth N109.26 million.

The naira held marginally against the dollar on the inter-bank market due to speculation that Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) would sell the US currency to banks on Tuesday.

The naira closed at 162.65 to the dollar, compared with 162.95 per dollar at Friday’s close.

Reports indicate that many banks sold down their dollar positions in anticipation of dollar inflows from NNPC expected to hit the market by Tuesday.

NNPC, which usually sells dollars to some banks on a monthly basis, accounts for about 70 per cent of the volume of dollars traded on the inter-bank market.

There are indications that the naira may strengthen further on Tuesday if the NNPC dollar sale holds.

From the international commodity market, Brent crude oil rose above 109 dollars a barrel on Monday, as China, the world’s largest consumer of energy, increased its oil demand, while US jobs figures pointed to healthy economic growth.

China imported 26.08 million tonnes or 6.14 million bpd of crude oil in May, bringing total shipments in the first five months of this year to 128.7 million tonnes.

Its oil demand dropped to a seven-month low in April, as refineries scaled back production for maintenance and exported surplus fuel.

Expectations of increased fuel demand from world events added support to the oil market already bolstered by the loss of crude exports from Libya, as violence and civil turmoil cut oil output by more than one million barrels per day (bpd) before the war.

The Ukraine crisis is also a worry for markets in the West that rely heavily on oil and gas exports from Russia.

Brent was up 50 cents at 109.11 dollars after settling down 18 cents and declining 0.7 per cent last week.

US oil rose 50 cents to 103.16 dollars, extending gains after ending 18 cents up on Friday.

Meanwhile, the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meets in Vienna this week.