United Bank of Africa Plc (UBA), Access Holdings Plc, and FBN Holdings Plc have achieved a historic milestone by surpassing the N1 trillion market capitalization mark.
This noteworthy accomplishment comes within the first six trading days of 2024 and six months after President Tinubu was sworn in.
UBA, spearheading this achievement, became the first bank to join the prestigious N1 trillion club as its market value soared to N1.02 trillion on a Monday.
On Tuesday, Access Holdings Plc and FBN Holdings Plc swiftly followed with market capitalization of N1.06 trillion and N1.03 trillion, respectively.
This surge in market capitalization is part of a broader trend with the Nigerian stock market experiencing a six-day rally that saw the All Share Index of the Nigerian Exchange Limited climb to 83,191.84 basis points on Tuesday from 74,773.77 basis points recorded at the close of the previous year.
While the winning streak was temporarily interrupted on Wednesday, the overall momentum underscores the positive outlook and buoyancy in the market.
The banking sector has been a focal point of investor interest with stocks posting significant gains in the early days of 2024.
Analysts attribute this strong rally to investors positioning themselves ahead of the full-year 2023 financial results expected to be released later this month.
Banks such as GTCO, Zenith, Access, and UBA had already signaled their financial strength by increasing their half-year 2023 dividends.
Gbolahan Ologunro, portfolio manager at FBNQuest, said: “I think that on the back of what investors witnessed in 2023 with significant jump in earnings due to revaluation gains, there seems to be optimism that banks will be able to increase their dividends for the full year 2023”.
