The Nigerian equities market posted impressive gains last week, with investors earning ₦1.14 trillion, fueled by significant bargain hunting across four out of five trading sessions. The market maintained its upward momentum, as the All-Share Index rose by 1.80% week-on-week, closing at 105,451.06 points.
According to Cowry Asset Limited, this performance builds on a fantastic year-to-date return of 37.65% as of 2024, which is significantly higher than the 34.60% inflation rate noted in November 2024.
The rally was fueled by investor optimism about Nigeria’s macroeconomic outlook and positioning ahead of Q4 2024 unaudited financial results. Banking stocks led the charge, attracting significant investor interest.
The market capitalization of all listed stocks rose by 1.80% week-on-week to ₦64.30 trillion, up from ₦63.17 trillion the previous week. This translates to a remarkable ₦1.14 trillion gain, achieved during four bullish trading sessions.
Data from the Nigerian Exchange showed 51 stocks gaining while 39 declined. The index’s year-to-date return improved to 2.45%. Trading activity was robust, with the average weekly volume of shares traded rising by 79.5% to 4.7 billion units. The value of transactions increased by 21.9% to ₦85.04 billion, while the total number of deals surged by 51.3% to 72,560.
Sectoral performance was mixed, with the banking index emerging as the sole gainer, up 1.94% week-on-week, driven by positive movements in WEMABANK, FBNH, FCMB, and GTCO. Conversely, the insurance index led decliners, down 6.91% due to losses in SUNUASSURANCE, CONHALLPLC, PRESTIGE, and CORNERSTONE.
Other sectors recorded marginal losses: the consumer goods and oil & gas indices fell by 0.34%, weighed down by declines in GUINNESS, OANDO, and INTERNATIONAL BREWERIES, while the industrial index shed 0.26% due to losses in CAVERTON, RTBRISCOE, and UPDC.
Strong investor demand drove the top-performing equities, which included MULTIVERSE (+53.4%), HONYFLOUR (+31.7%), DAARCOMM (+25.7%), MTNN (+21%), and NCR (+20.7%). However, because of sell-offs, the worst-performing companies were SUNUASSURANCE (-36.5%), CAVERTON (-15%), CONHALLPLC (-15%), RTBRISCOE (-14.3%), and JAIZBANK (-10.8%).
