Investors trading highs and lows on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) gained N348 billion in the equities market, driven by significant buying demand in oil, consumer, and industrial companies with higher upside potential. Cowry Asset Limited reported that the bulls retained a solid hold, fueled by broad optimism that generated purchasing opportunities for market players.
The market concluded higher in four of the five trading days, led by a sustained advance in OANDO (+60.71%), as well as robust demand in JBERGER (+31.15%), FBNH (+10.57%), and BUAFOODS (+4.20%), which outweighed losses from TRANSPOWER (-9.99%) and MTNN (-9.91%), according to CardinalStone.
Stockbrokers explained that the bullish market breadth was boosted by the release of favourable macroeconomic data, indicating a solid economic trajectory. According to Cowry Asset stockbrokers, equities investors rebalanced their portfolios and rotated sectors in reaction to economic data, focusing on high-quality firms with excellent fundamentals and attractive chart patterns.
The benchmark All-Share Index of the market rose 0.63% week over week, surpassing the 96,000 psychological level to settle at 96,579.54 points.
The year-to-date return of the exchange inched higher to 29.16%, tracking the annual inflation rate of 33.40%. Market momentum was strong, fuelled by buying interest across small, mid, and large-cap stocks with solid fundamentals, stockbrokers said.
As a result, the weekly trade value surged by 55.3% week-on-week to N51.34 billion, although the weekly trading volumes declined by 52.4% to 2.69 billion shares, all executed in 47,877 deals—a 14% increase from the previous week.
Across the sectoral spectrum, performance was bullish, with all five sectors under observation closing in positive territory.
The Oil & Gas and Insurance indices led the charge with weekly gains of 8.55% and 6.10%, respectively, driven by buying interest in stocks such as OANDO, ETERNA, TOTAL, SOVRENINS, CORNERSTONE, and UNIVINSURE.
The Consumer Goods, Banking, and Industrial Goods indices also reported notable gains of 3.5%, 1.60%, and 0.04%, respectively, buoyed by positive price movements in OKOMUOIL, MCNICHOLS, INTBREW, FBNH, Julius BERGER, BERGER, and ETI.
At the close of the week, stocks like OANDO (61%), DEAPCAP (57%), MCNICHOLS (57%), DAARCOMM (55%), and NSLTECH (54%) emerged as the top gainers, drawing significant investor attention.
Conversely, TRANSPOWER (-10%), MTNN (-10%), UPL (-9%), UNITED CAPITAL (-8%), and EUNISELL (-6%) were the week’s laggards, as investors offloaded these stocks as part of a broader portfolio rebalancing exercise.
NGX market capitalisation rose by 0.63% week-on-week, reaching N55.48 trillion, driven by positive price movements across various sectors.
Consequently, investors realised a profit of N348 billion in weekly gains, as the exchange recorded a total of 56 advancing stocks compared to 26 that experienced price declines.
Forecasting into the new week, Cowry Asset expects that the prevailing market sentiment will continue to dominate the local bourse, with position-taking and portfolio reshuffling likely to intensify ahead of the September trading month.
The firm said from a technical perspective, the NGX is showing signs of recovery, as indicated by the candlestick formations and momentum indicators, with equity investors poised to capitalise on pullbacks to acquire value stocks.
