The Nigerian Exchange’s (NGX) stock market capitalization reached N57 trillion after value and growth stock purchases, resulting in a year-to-date return that was inching closer to 40%.
The recent week’s trading activity was good, as the all-share index closed at 104,421.23 points, up 1.97% from the previous week. Due to purchasing interest in consumer and industrial goods equities during results announcements and dividend declarations, investors made a gain of N1.12 trillion.
The Nigerian stock exchange saw a rebound in purchasing activity, especially for banking companies, which helped push the market beyond the critical 104,000-point barrier.
According to a report from Cowry Asset Limited, the index has returned an amazing 39.7% so far this year, helping to drive up the market capitalization of listed shares to N57 trillion by 2% per week. Purchasing interest to offset losses in ZENITHBANK (-8.1%) and UBA (-8.2%) by purchasing DANGCEM (+9.9%) and BUAFOODS (+4.9%).
Strong market participation levels were evident despite the overall strong performance, indicating a favorable market breadth. The number of trades rose by 1.70% to 69,117 deals, while the total traded volume jumped by 30.56% to 3.89 billion units. There was a significant increase in the weekly traded value, rising by 64.40% to N95.15 billion. At the end of the week, TRIPPLE GEE (+42%), MEYER (+21%), CORNERST (+20%), JULI (+19%), and GEREGU (+15%) were the top-performing equities.
Conversely, stocks like VERITASKAP (-23%), DAARCOMM (-22%), ETERNA (-20%), CADBURY (-13%), and MAYBAKER (-16%) experienced declines in their share prices, respectively. On the sectoral front, Banking and insurance indexes retreated by 4.52% and 4.07%, respectively, primarily due to price drops in GTCO, ZENITH, ROYALEX, and NEM.
Conversely, the Industrial index outperformed, recording a 6.36% week-on-week gain, driven by increased prices and buying interest in DANGCEM and BUACEM. The Consumer Goods Index also ended the week positively, rising by 1.30%, fuelled by upward price movements in MEYER and MCNICHOLS.
However, the Oil & Gas index witnessed a dip due to waning sentiment in ETERNA, resulting in a 2.47% decline. Looking ahead to the coming week, market analysts at Cowry Asset Limited anticipate the continuation of positive sentiments in the local stock market.
However, they foresee a mixed trend with a possibility of profit-taking as investors are likely to continue sectoral rotation, capitalizing on stocks that experience pullbacks to position themselves strategically.
This rotation strategy is expected to create further buying opportunities, especially in anticipation of more earnings releases in the corporate reporting season, Cowry Asset Limited said.
