By Chris Ndibe
Neimeth International Pharmaceutical has emerged the best performing stock in 2020 in percentage terms, appreciating by 259.68 per cent.
Statistics obtained from the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) for the period indicated that the stock, which opened trading at 62k, rose by 259.68 per cent to close at N2.23 per share.
FTN Cocoa came second with a growth of 230 per cent to close the year at 66k compared with the opening price of 20k.
Airtel Africa trailed with 184.98 per cent to close at N851.80 from N298.90, while Livestock Feeds improved by 178 per cent to close at N1.39 against the year’s opening price of 50k.
Other top gainers are United Capital with 96.25 per cent; May & Baker 81.87 per cent; FCMB Group 80 per cent; Vitafoam 77.27 per cent; BOC Gas 74 per cent and Cutix 72.93 per cent.
Commenting on the market performance, Mr Ambrose Omordion, the Chief Operating Officer, InvestData Ltd., said 48 stocks closed the year upbeat with 11 of them growing their share prices by over 70 per cent.
Omordion said that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s policies impacted positively on the stock market due to low return offered by the fixed income market.
He said that low capitalised stocks from agribusiness and healthcare sectors dominated the best performance table for the year 2020.
Consequently, the nation’s bourse closed 2020 upbeat, appreciating by 50.03 per cent with the All-Share Index crossing the 40,000 mark on the last trading day, in spite of COVID-19 pandemic.
Specifically, the All-Share Index, which opened trading for the year at 26,842.07, inched higher by 13,428.65 points or 50.03 per cent to close at 40,270.72.
Similarly, the market capitalisation rose by N8.098 trillion to close at N21.056 trillion from the opening year figure of N12.958 trillion.
On the flip side, Omordion said that 34 stocks closed the weaker, which was dominated by consumer goods stocks arising from the effects of the economic recession that led to weaker purchasing power among citizens.
Conversely, Arbico was the best performing stock in percentage terms during the review period having lost 70.66 per cent to close at N1.03 per share against opening price of N3.51.
Omatex trailed with 60 per cent to close at 20k compared with 50k opening price and NCR which opened at N4.50 dipped 56.44 per cent to close at N1.96 per share.
Axa Mansard dropped 46.97 per cent to close 2020 at N1.05 against the opening price of N1.98 and Afro Media lost 41.18 per cent having closed the year at 20k per share against 34k opening price.
Other top losers are Seplat 38.84 per cent, Deap Capital 37.50 per cent, International Breweries 37.37 per cent, Unilever 36.82 per cent and Guinness 36.77 per cent.
On market expectations in 2021, Omordion predicted that the NSE would likely maintain the positive trend until the end of 2020 full year earnings reporting season.
He said the trend would likely persist as no other investment windows would offer returns and yields that could match the dividend yields of some listed companies still selling below their fair value.
