February: Equities market gained N198bn

The equities market of The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) closed on the bullish note in February, gaining N198 billion.

Aggregate market capitalisation of all quoted equities closed February at N10.045 trillion as against its opening value of N9.847 trillion in the second trading month in 2015.

The NSE All Share Index (ASI), the value-based common index that tracks prices of all quoted equities on the NSE, indicated a return of positive 1.83 per cent, implying that an average investor has gained 1.83 per cent on his investment’s portfolio in February.

The NSE ASI closed February at 30,103.81 basis points, 541.74 basis points or 1.83 per cent above 29,562.07 basis points it opened the month for trading activities.

It is important to note that the capital market is still trailing the effect of January poor performance to 13.14 per cent and N1.45 trillion lose in NSE ASI and market capitalisation respectively.

Sectoral indices reviewed by Nigerian NewsDirect in February indicated that most High price stocks recorded marginally growth, as investors surge in those stock  drive growth in  the capital market.

Nearly all the indices at The Exchange closed positive, with the exception of NSE Consumer Goods Index and NSE ASeM (Alternative Securities Market) Index that closed at -1.60 per cent and -0.03 per cent respectively.

NSE Consumer Goods Index moved from 781.84 basis points 769.36 basis points to while NSE ASeM dropped from 1,213.36 basis points to 1,212.94 basis points.

 The NSE 30 Index, which tracks the 30 most capitalised companies, recorded a return of positive 2.71 per cent from 1,334.09 basis points to 1,370.21 basis points.

The NSE Banking Index and NSE Insurance Index gained 10 per cent and 0.11 per cent to 327.72 basis points and 141.75 basis points.

 Further analysis revealed that NSE Oil/Gas Index gained 8.13 per cent to 386.09 basis points while NSE Lotus II increased from 1,948.04 basis points to 2,094.81 basis points, representing 7.53 per cent growth.

Meanwhile, NSE Industrial Goods Index posted average return of 0.46 per cent from 1,915.93 basis points to 1,924.77 basis points.

Analysts who spoke to Nigerian NewsDirect had attributed the modest increase in the capital market to Federal government winning war against the Boko Haram insurgency and anticipation of full-year 2014 results for quoted company.

According to them, investors are taking positions ahead of the release of the results and such has drive price appreciation most especially in the financial institution.