Stock market rises by N77 billion, market capitalization approaches N60 trillion

Nigeria’s stock market rose by N77 billion last week, with total market capitalization approaching the expected threshold of N60 trillion. The current market capitalization is N59.29 trillion.

The All-Share Index rose by 0.11% to close at 97,829.02 points, reflecting positive market sentiment.

Total trading volume this week was 1.95 billion shares worth N35.86 billion at 48,553 stores, while the total trading volume in the previous week was 1.48 billion shares worth N38.88 billion at 44,795 stores.

The Financial Services sector led in terms of trading volume with 21,099 trades, 1.041 billion shares valued at N16.207 billion, accounting for 53.34% and 45.19% of the total number and value of shares traded respectively.

This was followed by the Oil and Gas sector with 273.407 million shares, 5,489 trades and valued at N6.717 billion, while the Services sector was third with 141.184 million shares, 3,072 trades and valued at N779.166 million.

Notably, Japaul Gold and Ventures Plc, FBN Holdings Plc and Access Holdings Plc traded 4,658 deals totaling 461.5 million shares worth N6.183 billion, accounting for 23.64% and 17.24% of the total share volume or value respectively.

Share prices performed better this week, with 52 stocks rising, compared to 39 stocks rising in the previous week. The top gainers included Eunisell Interlinked Plc (+60.72%), Tantalizers Plc (+57.33%) and John Holt Plc (+42.49%).

In contrast, 33 stocks fell, less than the 46 in the previous week. The biggest losers were Mecure Industries Plc (-18.53%), Multiverse Mining and Exploration Plc (-17.61%) and FBN Holdings Plc (-7.97%).

Across all sectors, performance was positive with four indices rising, one falling, while the Information and Communication Technology index closed flat.

Top gainers were the Insurance and Consumer Goods indices, which rose 4.5% and 1.9% week-on-week, respectively, reflecting buying interest in Sunu Assurance (+16.2%), Mansard Insurance (+13.4%), Unilever (+20.8%) and Dangote Zacks (+16.7%).

In contrast, higher prices for Wapco (+28.6%), Beta Glass (+9.5%) and Japaulgold (+7.0%) pushed the Insurance index and Oil & Gas index up 1.8% and 0.2%, respectively. Conversely, selling in Access Holdings plc (-7.5%) and STERLING (-5.6%) led the banking index to fall 2.6%.

According to Afrinvest, the positive momentum in the stock market is expected to fade as profit-taking and risk-averse reaction to the expected hawkish stance of the Monetary Policy Committee weigh on investor sentiment.

“We expect the positive momentum in the stock market to reverse next week, driven by profit-taking and risk-averse reaction to the expected hawkish stance of the Monetary Policy Committee,” the company said.