Economy
Nigerian Equity Market Extends Rally by 0.58% Amid Weak Sentiment
By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited consolidated its gains on Thursday with a 0.58 per cent appreciation amid weak investor sentiment triggered by a further rise in inflation.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) yesterday said the average prices of goods and services increased by 29.90 per cent in January 2024 compared with 28.92 per cent in December 2023.
The rising food prices in the country were attributed to this, and this development only makes investors continue to shop for asset classes that can beat the high inflation rate.
This affected the level of activity at the equity market on Thursday as the trading volume, value and the number of deals waned by 33.36 per cent, 42.98 per cent, and 5.62 per cent, respectively.
Business Post reports that traders bought and sold 284.5 million equities worth N6.9 billion in 8,168 deals versus the 426.9 million equities worth N12.1 billion traded a day earlier in 8,654 deals.
The busiest stock for the day was GTCO with a turnover of 56.6 million units valued at N2.2 billion, followed by Transcorp with the sale of 33.2 million units worth N418.3 million, UBA exchanged 18.4 million units for N453.0 million, Mutual Benefits transacted 16.8 million units worth N11.5 million, and AXA Mansard traded 12.5 million units valued at N75.6 million.
Investor sentiment was weak yesterday as the bourse closed with 26 price losers and 24 price gainers, implying a negative market breadth index.
The biggest price gainer was University Press, growing by 9.96 per cent to N2.87 trailed by Juli, which soared by 9.84 per cent to N1.34. Mutual Benefits appreciated by 9.38 per cent to 70 Kobo, DAAR Communications expanded by 8.82 per cent to 74 Kobo, and Honeywell Flour increased by 7.50 per cent to N4.30.
Conversely, Unilever Nigeria was the biggest price loser after it shed 9.80 per cent to close at N16.10, Julius Berger declined by 9.64 per cent to N50.60, Morison Industries crashed by 9.60 per cent to N2.73, May & Baker decreased by 6.52 per cent to N6.45, and NASCON went down by 5.37 per cent to N59.05.
The banking sector suffered a loss of 1.32 per cent during the session, though this did not affect the outcome of the market.
This was because the industrial goods space jumped by 1.95 per cent, the consumer goods index improved by 0.22 per cent, and the insurance counter gained 0.18 per cent, while the energy sector closed flat.
As a result, the All-Share Index (ASI) moved up by 601.72 points to 104,100.00 points from 103,498.28 points, as the market capitalisation surged by N329 billion to N56.962 trillion from N56.633 trillion.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange rose by 0.16 per cent on Monday, December 22 as investors showed hunger for unlisted stocks.
Trading data showed that the volume of securities traded at the session surged by 532.9 per cent to 12.6 million units from the previous 1.9 million units, as the value of transactions jumped by 64.3 per cent to N713.6 million from N80.3 million, though the number of deals moderated by 13.5 per cent to 32 deals from the 37 deals recorded in the previous trading session.
Infrastructure Credit Guarantee Company (InfraCredit) Plc ended the day as the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis with 5.8 billion units sold for N16.4 billion, followed by Okitipupa Plc with 178.9 million units worth N9.5 billion, and MRS Oil Plc with 36.1 million units transacted for N4.9 billion.
InfraCredit Plc also finished the trading day as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 5.8 billion units traded for N16.4 billion, trailed by Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc with the sale of 1.2 billion units for N420.7 million, and Impresit Bakolori Plc with a turnover of 537.0 million units valued at N524.9 million.
The unlisted securities market printed a price loser, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc, which dropped 20 Kobo to sell at N53.80 per share versus last Friday’s closing price of N54.00 per share.
However, the loss was offset by the trio of NASD Plc, Golden Capital Plc, and UBN Property Plc.
NASD Plc gained N5.00 to close at N60.00 per unit versus N55.00 per unit, Golden Capital Plc appreciated by 77 Kobo to N8.45 per share from N7.68 per share, and UBN Property Plc improved by 22 Kobo to N2.43 per unit from N2.21 per unit.
As a result, the market capitalisation increased by N3.38 billion to N2.125 billion from N2.121 trillion, and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) grew by 5.65 per cent to 3,552.06 points from 3,546.41 points.
By Dipo Olowookere
The bulls remained on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Monday, rallying by 0.26 per cent at the close of transactions.
This was buoyed by the gains recorded by 34 equities on Nigeria’s stock exchange, which outweighed the losses posted by 20 equities, indicating a positive market breadth index and strong investor sentiment.
Aluminium Extrusion gained 9.72 per cent to quote at N13.55, International Energy Insurance improved by 9.69 per cent to N2.49, Mecure Industries rose by 9.64 per cent to N60.30, Royal Exchange expanded by 9.60 per cent to N1.94, and Austin Laz grew by 9.50 per cent to N2.65.
On the flip side, Custodian Investment depleted by 10.00 per cent to N35.10, ABC Transport crashed by 10.00 per cent to N3.15, Prestige Assurance weakened by 7.41 per cent to N1.50, and Guinea Insurance slipped by 7.38 per cent to N1.13.
During the session, investors traded 451.5 million shares worth N13.0 billion in 33,327 deals compared with the 1.5 billion shares valued at N21.8 billion transacted in 25,667 deals in the preceding session, showing spike in the number of deals by 29.84 per cent, and a decline in the trading volume and value by 69.90 per cent and 40.37 per cent apiece.
The first trading session of the Christmas week had Tantalizers as the most active with 50.2 million units sold for N127.5 million, First Holdco transacted 32.6 million units worth N1.5 billion, Access Holdings exchanged 27.3 million units valued at N562.3 million, Custodian Investment traded 22.1 million units for N857.8 million, and Chams transacted 21.3 million units valued at N71.1 million.
When the closing gong was struck at 2:30 pm to end trading activities, the All-Share Index (ASI) was up by 401.69 points to 152,459.07 points from 152,057.38 points and the market capitalisation went up by N256 billion to N97.193 trillion from N96.937 trillion.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira opened the week stronger against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) by N7.93 or 0.54 per cent on Monday, December 22, trading at N1,456.56/$1 compared with last Friday’s value of N1,464.49/$1.
The local currency also appreciated against the Euro in the same market window yesterday by N4.04 to close at N1,710.59/€1 versus the preceding session’s N1,714.63/€1, but depreciated against the Pound Sterling by 3 Kobo to finish at N1,957.33/£1 compared with the previous session’s N1,957.30/£1.
At the GTBank FX counter, the Nigerian Naira lost N3 against the greenback during the session to end at N1,470/$1 versus N1,467/$1 and remained unchanged in the parallel market at N1,485/$1.
Despite the market facing seasonal pressure, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) conducted FX intervention sales, which have significantly reduced but not remove pressure from the Naira. The lender sold $150 million to authorised dealers and banks to absorb pressures from increasing demand for Dollar.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s foreign exchange (FX) reserves have recorded the first decline in 25 weeks, falling by $263.151 million to $45.21 billion as of December 17, 2025, according to new data from the apex bank.
This marks a reversal of a long-running accumulation trend that pushed reserves to their highest level in six years. The contraction ended a sustained build-up that had peaked at $45.472 billion on December 12.
As for the cryptocurrency market, the bears dominated, with traders remaining cautious about a significant recovery with the market facing exhaustion.
While the total crypto market capitalization has surpassed $3 trillion, analysts warn that the market outcomes in the next few weeks may be driven by exhaustion rather than renewed confidence.
Ripple (XRP) depreciated by 1.9 per cent to $1.88, Ethereum (ETH) slid by 1.8 per cent to $2,971.28, Bitcoin (BTC) went down by 1.4 per cent to sell at $87,599.57, and Solana (SOL) slumped by 1.1 per cent to $124.89.
Further, Litecoin (LTC) declined by 0.9 per cent to close at $76.84, Dogecoin (DOGE) shrank by 0.7 per cent to $0.1310, Binance Coin (BNB) lost 0.6 per cent to sell for $852.09, and Cardano (ADA) fell by 0.1 per cent to $0.3655, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.
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