Bullish sentiments were sustained on the Nigerian Exchange Limited in the past week, leading to a N835bn gain for investors.
Analysts stated that the positive performance, underpinned by increased investor confidence and active buying interest, highlighted an optimistic outlook on the country’s economic fundamentals and key market indicators.
A surge primarily driven by heightened buying interest in financial and oil & gas stocks as liquidity continued to flow steadily into the market saw the All-Share Index rise by 1.41 per cent to 99,448.91.
Consequently, the market’s year-to-date return improved to 33.0 per cent while the market capitalisation crossed the N60tn market to close the week at N60.26tn.
Similarly, all other indices finished higher except for Consumer Goods, which declined by 0.84 per cent due to price pressures on Dangote Sugar, FTN Cocoa, Northern Nigeria Flour Mill, and International Breweries.
Lotus II depreciated by 1.19 per cent while the ASeM index closed flat.
The banking index emerged as the week’s top performer, posting a 7.86 per cent week-on-week increase, buoyed by strong investor sentiment in banking heavyweights, such as United Bank for Africa, FBN Holdings, AccessCorp and Stanbic.
The positive sentiment follows the release of robust nine-month earnings from banks, providing investors with encouraging insights for year-end expectations.
Also, the insurance index rose by 4.04 per cent due to positive movements in WAPIC Insurance, LASACO, and Guinea Insurance.
The oil & gas index also recorded a 3.95 per cent gain, led by Seplat, after the Ministry of Petroleum approved its acquisition of Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited.
The industrial index posted a mild gain of 0.1 per cent, thanks to upward price trends in UPDC and Lafarge.
Reflecting the heightened market confidence, trading activity showed a marked increase, with a total of 2.142 billion units of shares worth N85.95bn traded in 41,217 deals in contrast to a total of 1.447 billion shares valued at N73.89bn that exchanged hands in the previous week in 39,546 deals.
Given investors’ appetite, the financial services industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 1.176 billion shares valued at N23.74bn traded in 19,570 deals, thus contributing 54.91 per cent and 27.62 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value, respectively.
The consumer goods industry followed with 366.923 million shares worth N4.672bn in 4,004 deals. Third place was the Oil and Gas Industry, with a turnover of 228.439 million shares worth N52.635 billion in 7,547 deals.
Top stocks were United Bank for Africa, Champion Breweries and Japaul Gold and Ventures (measured by volume), which accounted for 828.822 million shares worth N12.32bn in 5,080 deals, contributing 38.70 per cent and 14.33 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value, respectively.
The top weekly gainers included Eunisell Interlinked, UBA and Unilever Nigeria Limited, which gained 20.69 per cent, 18.50 per cent and 18.42 per cent to close at N3.50, N30.10 and N22.50, respectively.
On the losers’ chart were Dangote Sugar Refinery, which lost 10.13 per cent to close at N31.50 and John Holt shed 9.84 per cent to end the week at N2.75.
Last week, 58 equities appreciated higher than 33 equities in the previous week; 18 equities depreciated lower than 43 in the previous week, while 76 equities remained unchanged, the same as the previous week.
Analysts at Cowry Research in their weekly report projected that the current rally in the market might persist, though cautious profit-taking activities might create intermittent dips.
“Looking ahead, we see the local bourse poised for further gains as investors look forward to the upcoming macroeconomic data releases and corporate earnings reports, which are anticipated to influence short-term trading dynamics,” part of the report said.
