Staff Writer
On Monday, investors won almost N534 billion, helping the Nigerian Exchange Limited, or NGX, equities market start the week on a good note.
Another stock market indicator, the NGX- All Share Index, or ASI, increased 1.6% to 61,949.24 points as a result of increased investor interest in MTN Nigeria, which rose 1.7%, Stanbic IBTC, which increased 9.3%, and Access Corporation, which increased 9.9%.
Consequently, the market capitalization climbed by N534.0 billion to end at N33.7 trillion, and the Year-to-Date, YtD return jumped to 20.9% from 19.0% on Friday.
Activity levels were uneven, with value traded falling 12.0% to N14.1 billion and transaction volume rising 20.8% to 1.2 billion units.
Regarding sectoral analysis, performance within our purview was favorable across all sectors, as all 6 indices increased. Following price increases in Zenith Bank, which increased by 2.9%, Fidelity Bank, which increased by 10.0%, and MANSARD, which increased by 4.6%, the Banking and Insurance indexes led the pack, rising 6.8% and 1.8%, respectively.
Due to price increases in Conoil, which increased by 6.0%, Eterna, 10.0%, and MTN Nigeria, respectively, the Oil & Gas and AFR-ICT Indices eked out 1.5% and 0.9% gains each. Dangote Sugar’s price increased by 3.0% as a result of increased demand, while the Industrial Goods Indices rose by 0.5% and 4 basis points, respectively, along with Unilever’s 7.4% and PZ’s 4.6%.
Regarding the outlook, experts at Afrinvest Research noted: “Investor sentiment, as indicated by market breadth, rose to 1.29 times from 0.78 times in the prior session as 67 stocks advanced, 14 sank, and 41 closed flat. Since investor confidence has improved, we anticipate continued buying during today’s trading session (Tuesday).
