Equities Investors Gain N348bn as Oil, Consumer Stocks Rally
Investors trading highs and lows on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) recorded N348 billion gain in the equities market following strong buying interest in oil, consumer and industrial stocks with stronger upside potential.
The bulls maintained a firm grip, driven by widespread optimism that created buying opportunities for market participants, Cowry Asset Limited said in a note.
The market closed positive in 4 out of 5 trading sessions, spurred by continued rally in OANDO (+60.71%), alongside strong demand in JBERGER (+31.15%), FBNH (+10.57%), and BUAFOODS (+4.20%) which eclipsed the losses from TRANSPOWER (-9.99%) and MTNN (-9.91%), CardinalStone said.
Stockbrokers explained that the positive market breadth was bolstered by the release of favourable macroeconomic data, which suggests a promising trajectory for the economy.
Cowry Asset stockbrokers said equity investors engaged in sector rotation and portfolio reshuffling in response to economic data, focusing on high-quality stocks with strong fundamentals and encouraging chart patterns.
The benchmark All-Share Index of the market registered a 0.63% increase on a week-on-week basis, surpassing the 96,000 psychological threshold to close at 96,579.54 points.
The year-to-date return of the exchange inched higher to 29.16%, tracking the annual inflation rate of 33.40%. Market momentum was strong, fuelled by buying interest across small, mid, and large cap stocks with solid fundamentals, stockbrokers said.
As a result, the weekly trade value surged by 55.3% week-on-week to N51.34 billion, although the weekly trading volumes declined by 52.4% to 2.69 billion shares, all executed in 47,877 deals—a 14% increase from the previous week.
Across the sectoral spectrum, performance was bullish, with all five sectors under observation closing in positive territory.
The Oil & Gas and Insurance indices led the charge with weekly gains of 8.55% and 6.10%, respectively, driven by buying interest in stocks such as OANDO, ETERNA, TOTAL, SOVRENINS, CORNERSTONE, and UNIVINSURE.
The Consumer Goods, Banking, and Industrial Goods indices also reported notable gains of 3.5%, 1.60%, and 0.04% respectively, buoyed by positive price movements in OKOMUOIL, MCNICHOLS, INTBREW, FBNH, JULIUS BERGER, BERGER, and ETI.
At the close of the week, stocks like OANDO (61%), DEAPCAP (57%), MCNICHOLS (57%), DAARCOMM (55%), and NSLTECH (54%) emerged as the top gainers, drawing significant investor attention.
Conversely, TRANSPOWER (-10%), MTNN (-10%), UPL (-9%), UNITED CAPITAL (-8%), and EUNISELL (-6%) were the week’s laggards, as investors offloaded these stocks as part of a broader portfolio rebalancing exercise.
NGX market capitalisation rose by 0.63% week-on-week, reaching N55.48 trillion, driven by positive price movements across various sectors.
Consequently, investors realised a profit of N348 billion in weekly gains, as the exchange recorded a total of 56 advancing stocks compared to 26 that experienced price declines.
Forecasting into the new week, Cowry Asset expects that the prevailing market sentiment to continue to dominate the local bourse, with position-taking and portfolio reshuffling likely to intensify ahead of the September trading month.
The firm said from a technical perspective, the NGX is showing signs of recovery, as indicated by the candlestick formations and momentum indicators, with equity investors poised to capitalise on pullbacks to acquire value stocks. #Equities Investors Gain N348bn as Oil, Consumer Stocks Rally
