BY FESTUS OKOROMADU, ABUJA
Equities trading on Monday recorded a remarkable surge at the Nigerian Exchange Limited leading to a gain of N411 billion on the share price of listed equities.
Consequently, the market capitalisation rose to N37.369 trillion at the close of trading as against N36.958 trillion posted in the previous session.
The All-Share Index also rose to an unprecedented level of 68,279.14, marking a 1.11 percent increase, thus surpassing the previous record of 66,371.20 points set on March 5, 2008, following a prior all-time high of 66,490.34 points.
Further analysis showed that the year-to-date value of the total equities listed on the Exchange grew by 33.32 percent.
The performance was attributed to the remarkable surge in banking stocks, with leading financial institutions such as Zenith Bank and GTCO leading the charge.
Investors strategically positioned themselves to capitalize on the recent impressive earning reports released by select banks over the weekend.
Additionally, the demand for shares in BUA Foods contributed to this positive market sentiment.
Despite this overall positive trend, sectoral performance within the market was mixed.
The Banking Index, boasting a significant gain of 5.65 percent, was at the forefront, driven by strong performances from Zenith Bank and GTCO.
The Consumer Goods Index also posted gains at 1.57 percent, while the Insurance and Industrial Index declined by 2.81 and 0.14 percent respectively.
Meanwhile, the NGX Oil and Gas Index remained stable.
Market activity witnessed a substantial uptick, with trading volume rising by 67.88 percent to 845.680 million units, and the value of stocks traded increased by 88.56 percent to reach N13.03 billion.
This was evident in 11,934 deals, compared to the previous session’s 503.74 million units, N6.91 billion in value and 7,606 deals.
Zenith Bank led the activity chart with 75.411 million shares sold, valued at N2.79 billion. GTCO followed closely with the sale of 54.80 million shares worth N2.20 billion, while Dangote Sugar transacted 20.85 million shares valued at N1.38 billion.
Market breadth ended on a positive note, with 38 stocks experiencing gains in value, while 19 stocks saw a decline.
Dangote Sugar emerged as the top gainer with an impressive 10% increase in stock value. Conversely, Chip Plc led the group of declining securities, with a 9.57 percent decrease in stock value.
Financial analysts reacted to this strong market performance by attributing it to recent corporate actions.
They anticipate that investors would continue to selectively invest in fundamentally strong stocks.
However, they also acknowledged the possibility of profit-taking activities on stocks that have seen notable appreciations in recent weeks.
Despite these considerations, analysts recommended that investors seek trading opportunities in fundamentally sound stocks, given the ongoing challenges posed by the weak macroeconomic environment on corporate earnings.
