Nigerian equities post 10-months’ record high, N15.1trn market cap

Charles Abuede

• DangCem, MTN, Zenith Bank drive market
• Bourse in highest daily gain since 2015
• Investors claw N708bn in gains

 The Nigerian equities market recorded a number of interesting feats in Tuesday’s trading session which saw market capitalisation produce a 10-months record high of N15.1 trillion while the All-Share index recorded its highest single-day rise since March 2015 at 4.92 per cent.

Strong buy interest mainly in low-priced bellwethers and high dividend-yielding stocks saw the market close up for the 12th consecutive day as the bulls continue to surmount the bears in the market.  

The rally in the local bourse saw the benchmark index rising 4.92 per cent to close at 28,909.37 points, the highest daily increase on record since March 2015. A sustained buy interest in bellwethers – Dangote Cement (+9.9%), MTN Nigeria (+5.7%) and Zenith Bank (+9.5%) – drove today’s impressive performance.

This performance was responsible for investors gaining N708.1 billion as market capitalisation hit N15.1 trillion, the highest since January 2020, while year-to-date return jumped to 7.7 per cent and the month to date (MTD) change jumped to 14.14 per cent.

Market activities advanced on the back of rising sentiments

Also, market activity level strengthened on the back of continued increase in investor sentiments as volume and value traded improved by 24.1 per cent and 27.9 per cent to 749.5 million units and N9.5 billion respectively. The most traded stocks by volume were Zenith Bank  (135.7 million units), United Bank for Africa (112.9 million units) and FBN Holdings (89.9 million units) while Zenith Bank (N2.8 billion), Guaranty Trust Bank (N1.2 billion) and United Bank for Africa (N768.2 million) led by value.

Impressive sector performance 

Similarly, performance across sectors was laudable as all indices sustained previous day’s gains. The banking and industrial goods indices appreciated the most, edging higher by 7.5 per cent and 5.6 per cent respectively, following strong buy interest in Zenith Bank (+9.5%), Guaranty Trust Bank (+6.1%) and Dangote Cement (+9.9%).

The AFR-ICT and consumer goods indices trailed, rising three per cent apiece, owing to price appreciation in MTN  (+5.7%), Nigerian Breweries (+7.2%) and Dangote Sugar (+4.6%). Equally, the oil & gas and insurance indices closed higher by 1.2 per cent and 0.3 per cent respectively as investors cherry-picked OANDO Plc (+9.6%), ARDOVA (+9.0%) and Cornerstone (+10.0%).

Investor sentiment remains strong

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) strengthened further to 5.6x from the 3.6x recorded in the previous session as 45 stocks gained as against eight that lost. Presco (+10.0%), Cornerstone (+10.0%) and Interbrew (+10.0%) were top gainers while NPFMCRBK  (-8.8%), WAPIC (-7.7%) and ACADEMY (-6.9%) led the laggards.

The NSE 30

The NSE 30 Index increased by 5.68 per cent to close at 1,243.50 points as against 1,176.63 points on the previous day. Market turnover closed with a traded volume of 614.74 million units. International Breweries and Presco were the key gainers, while there were no losers.