The Nigerian equities market experienced a robust start to the trading week, with investors celebrating a significant gain of over N534 billion.
This positive development on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) has buoyed market participants, signaling renewed investor confidence.
The NGX-All Share Index (ASI), a key benchmark indicator for the stock market, surged by 1.6% to close at an impressive 61,949.24 points.
The surge was primarily driven by increased buying interest in prominent companies such as MTN Nigeria, which recorded a 1.7% rise, as well as Stanbic IBTC and Access Corporation, which saw remarkable gains of 9.3% and 9.9%, respectively.
This remarkable upswing has further boosted the Year-to-Date (YtD) return, which now stands at 20.9%, up from 19.0% at the end of the previous trading week.
The market capitalization grew to N33.7 trillion, representing an increase of N534 billion.
While activity levels displayed mixed results, with transaction volume increasing by 20.8% to 1.2 billion shares and traded value experiencing a slight dip of 12.0% to N14.1 billion, the overall sentiment among investors remains positive.
In terms of sectoral analysis, all six indices closed in the green to extend their year-to-date overall market performance.
Leading the charge were the Banking and Insurance indices, which experienced significant advancements of 6.8% and 1.8% respectively. This surge can be attributed to the price appreciation witnessed in Zenith Bank (2.9%), Fidelity Bank (10.0%), and MANSARD (4.6%).
Following closely behind, the Oil & Gas and AFR-ICT Indices witnessed slight upticks of 1.5% and 0.9% respectively, driven by price increases in Conoil (6.0%), Eterna (10.0%), and MTN Nigeria (1.7%). Furthermore, notable price gains in Dangote Sugar (3.0%), Unilever (7.4%), and PZ (4.6%) propelled the Consumer and Industrial Goods Indices, resulting in increases of 0.5% and 4 basis points (bps), respectively.
Looking ahead, analysts at Afrinvest Research express optimism, stating, “Investor sentiment, as measured by market breadth, improved to 1.29 times from 0.78 times in the prior session, with 67 stocks advancing, 14 declining, and 41 remaining unchanged. We anticipate sustained buying activity in today’s (Tuesday) trading session buoyed by improved investor sentiment.”
Overall, the positive start to the trading week, accompanied by strong gains across various sectors, has set an encouraging tone for investors in the Nigerian stock market.
With renewed investor confidence and favorable market conditions, the coming days hold the potential for further growth and continued upward momentum.