- Access Corporation, MTN Nigeria drive equity market to N607bn gain
The National Bureau of Statistics has said that the headline inflation rate eased to 32.15% in August 2024, relative to the July 2024 headline inflation rate of 33.40%.
This indicates that the August headline inflation rate showed a decrease of 1.25% points when compared to the July headline inflation rate.
However, on a year-on-year basis, the bureau disclosed that the headline inflation rate was 6.35% points higher compared to the rate recorded in August 2023 (25.80%).
This shows an increase in August 2024, when compared to the same month in the preceding year.
On a month -on -month basis, NBS said the headline inflation rate in August was 2.22%, which was 0.06% lower than the rate recorded in the previous month (2.28%).
This means that in August, the rate of increase in the average price level is lower than the rate of increase in the average price level in July 2024.
“The percentage change in the average CPI for the 12 months period ending August 2024 over the average of the CPI for the previous twelve months period was 31.26%, showing 8.88% increase compared to 22.38% recorded in August 2023.”
On a year-on-year basis, August 2024 urban inflation rate was 34.58%, this was 6.89% points higher compared to the 27.69% recorded in August 2023.
On a month-on-month basis, the urban inflation rate was 2.39% in August 2024; this was 0.07% points lower compared to July 2024 (2.46%).
The corresponding 12-month average for the urban inflation rate was 33.44% in August 2024. This was 9.98% points higher compared to the 23.46% reported in August 2023.
The rural inflation rate in August 2024 was 29.95% on a year-on-year basis; this was 5.85% higher compared to the 24.10% recorded in August 2023.
On a month-on-month basis, the rural inflation rate in August 2024 was 2.06%, down by 0.04% points compared to July 2024 (2.10%).
The corresponding 12-month average for the rural inflation rate in August 2024 was 29.32%.
This was 7.93% higher compared to the 21.39% recorded in August 2023.
The food inflation rate in August 2024 was 37.52% on a year-on-year basis, which was 8.18% points higher compared to the rate recorded in August 2023 (29.34%).
The rise in food inflation on a year on year basis was caused by increases in prices of the following items, bread, maize grains, guinea corn, etc (bread and cereals class), yam, Irish potatoes, water yam, cassava tuber (potatoes, yam and other tubers class), palm oil, vegetable, (oil and fats class) and ovaltine, milo, Lipton, (coffee, tea and cocoa class).
On a month-on-month basis, the Food inflation rate in August 2024 was 2.37% which shows a 0.10% decrease compared to the rate recorded in July 2024 (2.47%).
The fall was attributed to the decline in the rate of increase in the average prices of tobacco, tea, coco, coffee, groundnut oil, milk, yam, Irish potatoes, water yam, cassava tuber, palm oil, vegetable.
The average annual rate of food inflation for the 12 months ending August 2024 over the previous twelve-month average was 36.99%, which was 11.98% points increase from the average annual rate of change recorded in August 2023 (25.01%).
Meanwhile, on state by state basis, all items inflation rate in August on a year-on-year basis was highest in Bauchi (46.46%), Kebbi (37.51%) and Jigawa (37.43%), while Benue (25.13%), Delta (26.86%) and Imo (28.05%) recorded the slowest rise in Headline inflation on a year-on-year basis.
Access Corporation, MTN Nigeria drive equity market to N607bn gain
Meanwhile, the Nigerian equity market gained N607 billion in market capitalisation in the past week, on the back of buying interest in large-cap stocks like Access Corporation and MTN Nigeria.
The All-Share Index appreciated by 1.06 per cent to close at 97,456.62, while the market capitalisation rose by 1.10 percent to N56 trillion.
All other indices closed higher, except for the Growth Index, which saw a depreciation of 0.03 percent, while the Alternative Securities Market Index remained flat.
The upward trend was driven by investor interest in major stocks, such as Access Corporation, which gained 2.39 percent, and MTN Nigeria, which rose by 7.37 percent.
Across various sectors, the performance was bullish, with gains recorded in consumer goods (1.47 per cent), insurance (1.59), industrial (0.17 per cent), banking (5.12 per cent), and oil & gas (two per cent).
In terms of activity, the financial services industry led the charts, accounting for 1.71 billion shares valued at N26.99billion traded in 19,277 deals, contributing 66.05 per cent and 52.71 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value, respectively.
Following closely was the oil and gas industry, which saw 332.83 million shares worth N12 billion, traded in 9,956 deals.
The services industry ranked third with 146.189m shares valued at N530.544 million traded in 3,404 deals.
During the week, 43,535 units valued at N13.476 million were traded in 122 deals, up from the 23,881 units valued at N8.240m transacted in the previous week.
Overall, 52 equities appreciated, an increase from the 36 equities recorded in the previous week, as 31 equities saw price declines, compared to 46 in the prior week, while 68 remained unchanged, slightly lower than the 69 recorded earlier.
Meanwhile, the Federal Government’s savings bonds were listed on the Nigerian Exchange on September 12.
