Nigeria: Banking Stocks Rally Drives NGX’s N440bn Surge

The Nigerian equities segment of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) witnessed a recovery midweek, as investors showed increased interest in financial service stocks. This surge in buying activity resulted in a boost of over N440 billion to investors’ wealth, with the year-to-date return surpassing 20%, outpacing the annual inflation rate of 22.41%.

Driven by bargain hunting, the market index, also known as the All-Share Index, climbed by 133 basis points to close at 61,523.57 points, compared to the previous record of 60,715.04 points on Tuesday.

Data from the local bourse revealed that stocks such as BUACEMENT, PRESCO, CONOIL, ACCESSCORP, FBNH, UBA, WAPCO, GTCO, and ZENITH BANK were the top performers, attracting investors’ attention during Wednesday’s trading session.

The individual price appreciation of BUACEMENT (+9.44%), PRESCO (+7.73%), CONOIL (+5.68%), FBNH (+3.35%), GTCO (+2.56%), ACCESSCORP (+4.37%), and DANGSUGAR (+1.20%) contributed significantly to the day’s market upswing.

Trading records indicated a 23.6% decline in total volume traded, amounting to 846.32 million units, valued at N10.31 billion, across 9,815 deals. FBNH emerged as the most traded stock by volume with 89.24 million units, and by value with N1.65 billion.

Stockbrokers noted that the improved market sentiment pushed the Year to Date return to 20.04%. With market breadth measuring positive at 1.4x, 43 stocks recorded gains while 30 stocks experienced losses.

The top gainers were LEARNAFRCA (+10.0%) and GOLDBREW (+10.0%), while NEM (-10.0%) and LASACO (-10.0%) suffered the highest losses of the day.

An analysis of the sub-sector gauges revealed that four out of the five indices closed in positive territory. The Banking index surged by 6.2%, Industrial Goods rose by 3.9%, and the Oil & Gas index increased by 0.2%. The Consumer Goods index showed a modest gain of 0.1%, while the Insurance index declined by 4.7%.

Overall, the equities market capitalization witnessed a significant surge of N440.38 billion, representing a 1.33% increase, closing at ₦33.5 trillion compared to the previous ₦33.06 trillion.