Nigerian Stock Market Rallies 0.90% as Bullish Momentum Gathers

By Dipo Olowookere

The Nigerian stock market further appreciated by 0.90 per cent on Friday amid renewed interest in financial and energy stocks, as investors continue to react to the reclassification of Nigeria to the Frontier Market status by FTSE Russel.

According to data from the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited, investor sentiment turned bullish during the last trading session of the week, with Customs Street recording 33 price gainers and 19 price losers, indicating a positive market breadth index.

The biggest price advancer was Seplat, which chalked up 10.00 per cent to trade at N12,320.60. Transcorp Hotels surged by 9.76 per cent to N265.50, Omatek appreciated by 9.49 per cent to N1.50, DAAR Communications grew by 9.42 per cent to N1.51, and University Press gained 8.57 per cent to N5.70.

On the flip side, TotalEnergies slumped by 10.00 per cent to N576.00, Haldane McCall lost 8.78 per cent to trade at N3.74, eTranzact shrank by 8.62 per cent to N13.25, Austin Laz crashed by 7.41 per cent to N2.50, and AVA Capital dipped by 7.14 per cent to N6.50.

A look at the performance of the key sectors of Customs Street showed that the energy index rose by 4.73 per cent, the banking counter soared by 2.34 per cent, and the insurance segment advanced by 0.82 per cent, while the consumer goods sector dropped 0.19 per cent, with the industrial goods space closing flat.

Business Post reports that the All-Share Index (ASI) increased yesterday by 2,142.38 points to 241,298.47 points from 239,156.09 points, and the market capitalisation expanded by N1.384 trillion to N155.826 trillion from N154.442 trillion.

Yesterday, a total of 605.2 million equities valued at N29.9 billion exchanged hands in 38,421 deals versus the 500.0 million equities worth N35.2 billion transacted in 40,323 deals on Thursday. This implied that the trading volume rose by 21.04 per cent due to a large-ticket transaction in Jaiz Bank, the trading value decreased by 15.06 per cent, and the number of deals went down by 4.72 per cent.

Jaiz Bank was the most active stock for the day, with a turnover of 210.7 million units valued at N1.6 billion. Access Holdings sold 42.3 million units worth N1.2 billion, Zenith Bank transacted 41.9 million units for N5.0 billion, International Energy Insurance traded 35.6 million units worth N94.4 million, and Chams exchanged 34.3 million units for N131.4 million.