Equities Market Climbs by N160bn as Banking Stocks Rally
The equities market opened the week on a mildly positive note with buying interest in small- and mid-cap stocks as investors continue to consider Dangote Refinery initial public offering.
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) All-Share Index (ASI) advanced by 0.10% to settle at 243,299.24 points. This lifted the year-to-date return to 56.35%, supported by buying interest in banking stocks.
The stock market capitalisation increased by approximately ₦159.82 billion, with market capitalisation rising to ₦157.75 trillion.
Trading activity was mixed during the session, as the volume of shares traded declined by 22.42% to 428.94 million units, while transaction value fell by 20.45% to ₦20.51 billion.
Conversely, the number of deals increased by 19.49% to 54,506, indicating higher transaction frequency despite the decline in overall turnover.
Market breadth weakened to 0.71x, as 20 gainers trailed 28 losers, suggesting that the marginal advance in the benchmark index was not broad-based.
STERLINGNG led the volume chart, with 78.05 million shares traded across 398 deals, while ARADEL recorded the highest transaction value at approximately ₦2.48 billion across 1,395 deals.
Sectoral performance was mixed, as Banking (+0.68%) closed in positive territory, while Insurance (-0.53%), Consumer Goods (-0.23%), and Oil& Gas (-0.05%) all weighed on the index and the Industrial and Commodity sectors ended relatively flat.
The stock market is expected to tread cautiously as investors maintain mixed interests across sector indices following the commencement of Dangote Refinery IPO.
