Banking Index Bolsters by Strong Appetite for Tier-1 Banks Stock
Equities investors healthy appetite for GTCO, Zenith Bank, and other financial stocks bolstered the Nigerian Exchange banking index on Thursday, stockbrokers said.
Positive price appreciation recorded by GTCO, UBA, ZENITHBANK, Access Holdings, and FBN Holdings nudged the banking index higher, and it was the lone gainer in the equities market.
On Thursday, the Nigerian Exchange All-Share Index declined by 5 bps, closing at 102,788.20 points, while the market capitalisation settled at ₦63.14 trillion. GTCO pushed forth to a new fresh high at N61, market value of its 29.431 billion shares outstanding increased to N1.795 trillion.
At N48.1 per share, Zenith Bank Plc market capitalisation surpassed N1.5 trillion following a slight gain in the equities market. Access Holdings Plc spiked to N1.316 trillion as its share price gained weight in the local bourse, trading at N24.70 at the close of session on Thursday.
A 2.34% daily price uptick in UBA nudged the pan-African lender’s market capitalisation to N1.196 trillion ahead of earnings release. The stock has seen successive increases in market price this week, according to data from the Nigerian bourse.
FBN Holdings also climbed to N1.019 trillion amidst a bucket of internal pressure. Overall, sectoral performance reviews showed widespread bearish sentiment, with the insurance sector posting the steepest loss of 1.23%.
The Consumer Goods and Oil & Gas sectors also recorded marginal declines of 0.81% and 0.36%, respectively, while the Industrial Goods sector remained flat at 0%.
Conversely, the banking sector showed resilience, gaining 1.04%. Trading activity on the NGX was robust, with the total number of deals and traded value rising by 12.95% and 50.28%, respectively, to 12,160 deals and ₦22.78 billion.
However, traded volume dipped slightly by 0.12% to 394.36 million units. GTCO and SEPLAT were the most actively traded stocks, with GTCO leading in volume at 42 million units across 467 trades, while SEPLAT dominated in value, contributing a significant ₦7.9 billion to the day’s turnover. Investors Take Positions in MTN Nigeria after Tariff Hike
