Stock Market Gains N1.5trn After Tinubu Vows to Jump-Start Economy

By Dipo Olowookere

The first trading session on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited after the inauguration of Mr Bola Tinubu as the new President of Nigeria closed higher by 5.22 per cent on Tuesday.

Yesterday, the stock market did not open its doors to investors due to the public holiday declared by the federal government for the inauguration of the country’s 16th President.

During his inaugural speech, Mr Tinubu promised to make the business environment friendly to investors, stating that he would ensure a minimum of 6 per cent economic growth, unify the exchange rate regimes, address multiple taxes, improve the electricity supply, and others.

These assurances touched the right places and spurred stock investors to buy up some equities in anticipation of good times ahead.

It was observed that most of the sectors of the bourse leapt to levels last seen in years, as the banking space rose by 8.20 per cent. The consumer goods improved by 6.48 per cent, the industrial goods sector appreciated by 6.08 per cent, the energy index increased by 4.04 per cent, and the insurance counter grew by 2.29 per cent.

Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) jumped by 2,764.47 to 55,738.35 points from 52,973.88 points, and the market capitalisation rose by N1.495 trillion to N30.340 trillion from N28.845 trillion.

Business Post reports that 64 equities appreciated in price at the close of business today, and 12 shares ended on the losers’ table, indicating a very strong investor sentiment boosted by a positive market breadth index.

The strong demand for stocks on Tuesday pushed the prices of Deap Capital, FCMB, Nigerian Breweries, Jaiz Bank and Eterna higher by 10.00 per cent to 22 Kobo, N4.62, N42.35, N1.10, and N7.70, respectively.

On the flip side, Ikeja Hotel lost 10.00 per cent to trade at N2.16, NCR Nigeria depreciated by 9.80 per cent to N2.76, Tantalizers fell by 8.00 per cent to 23 Kobo, International Energy Insurance went down by 6.98 per cent to N1.20, and Consolidated Hallmark Insurance depleted by 6.56 per cent to 57 Kobo.

The most active stock of the trading session was Access Holdings, transacting 199.6 million units valued at 2.5 billion, FBN Holdings traded 127.9 million units worth 1.8 billion, Transcorp sold 95.7 million units worth N309.2 million, UBA exchanged 82.0 million units valued at N831.5 million, and GTCO transacted 76.4 million units worth N2.2 billion.

Data showed that a total of 1.1 billion stocks worth N15.8 billion exchanged hands in 9,916 deals on Tuesday compared with the 461.8 million stocks valued at N7.7 billion traded in 6,520 deals last Friday, implying an increase in the trading volume, value and number of deals by 133.49 per cent, 105.20 per cent, and 52.09 per cent, respectively.