Equities gain N690bn in five days as FG floats N150bn Sukuk

… CIS prepares members for post Covid 19

Fortune smiled on investors and other participants in the nation’s capital market as the listed equities gained N694.9 billion in five days last week. This translated to a gain of N139 billion in equity values daily. This has seen the market capitalisation of quoted companies on the Nigerian bourse rise to N13.14 trillion last week Friday compared with N12.44 trillion in the previous week.

The turnaround manifested across all the sub sectors with the stocks listed under the industrial index recording the highest weekly gain of 15.45 percent as it closed at 1,168.75 points last week Friday up from 1,012.32 points in the previous week. Ten stocks are the components of the industrial index. These are Berger Paints, Beta Glass, CAP, Cutix, Meyer, Portland Paints, Dangote Cement, Bua Cement, Premier Paints and WAPCO.

Dangote Cement, Nigeria’s most capitalised stock, closed lats Friday at N150 per share, translating to a year to date gain of 5.6 percent. Bua Cement, another highly capitalised stock within the index has had its share price rise to N39 per share, amounting to a year to date gain of 11.4 percent. Cutix has gained 22.6 percent year to date while Beta Glass and Berger Paints have gained 30.1 percent and 3.7 percent year to date respectively.

Other sectoral indices with noticeable performances last week included NSE Pension Index which gained 9.11 percent week to date; NSE Banking Index, 7.24 percent; NSE Lotus Islamic Index that gained 7.99 percent, among others. Year to date, about 35 equities have recorded different amounts in price appreciation.

Meanwhile, the Federal Government of Nigeria has floated a N150 billion Sukuk which will be on offer between May 21, 2020 and June 2, 2020. The settlement date has been fixed for June 9, 2020.

The 7-year Ijarah Sukuk has is issued by the FGN Roads Sukuk Company 1 Plc with the rental rate fixed at 11.2 percent per annum, payable semi-annually and is due June 2027.

The sukuk has Fbnquest Merchant Bank and Lotus Financial Services Limited as the financial advisers. The receiving banks are FBN, Stanbic IBTC, Jaiz Bank, Taj Bank, Sterling Bank, Zenith Bank and Unity Bank.

“Proceeds will be used solely for the construction and rehabilitation of key roads in the six geopolitical zones across the country”, FGN says in the offer document.

In another development, the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS) is gearing up for the post Covid 19. In this regard, the stock broking regulatory body has concluded plans to organise a webinar on how its members could tap into the opportunities that will come up when the global economy begins to recover from the pandemic.

Titled “Opportunities for Stockbrokers: Post Covid 19 Pandemic”, the zoom conference will hold on May 27, 2020 by 1pm West African time.

Distinguished speakers include Jude Chiemeka, divisional head, training business at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) who will speak on the general opportunities in the market; Akeem Oyewale, CEO, Stanbic IBTC Nominees Limited will be speaking on the other opportunities in the market; Akin Akeredolu-ale, MD/CEO, Lagos commodity and Futures Exchange will be speaking on the opportunities available with special reference to the commodity market and alternative investments; and Tosin Osunkoya, CEO, Comercio Partners Asset Management will be speaking on the opportunities available with special reference to the fixed income. It will be moderated by Fiona Ahimie, MD, Fbnquest Securities Limited.