Nigeria’s stock market recorded another bullish streak this week as the market capitalisation of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) rose by N2.15 trillion or 16.55 per cent due to the listing of BUA Cement which supported appetite for risk assets, especially at the twilight of the week.

Similarly, investors’ interest in the shares of Dangote Cement, Presco further propelled the market’s benchmark index to a whopping 9.07 per cent gain – the largest weekly return for two years (12 January 2018: +10.0 per cent), to become the world’s best-performing stock market for the week.

Monday and Tuesday’s sessions saw the market capitalisation of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) rising by N297 billion in two consecutive trading sessions despite projections from analysts that the Nigerian stock market would start on a negative note.
Wednesday’s session saw the volume of transactions on NSE garnering momentum as it rose by 66.2 per cent. Buoyed by price appreciation in the shares of Dangote Cement, Stanbic and MTNN, the All-Share Index (ASI) notched up 3.54 per to close at 28,562.48 points.

Consequently, Year-to-Date (YTD) return increased to 6.4 per cent while market capitalisation rose N470.9 billion to N13.8 trillion.
The domestic bourse sustained its bullish outing on Thursday as price appreciation in Dangote Cement, MTNN and GT Bankshot the ASI 2.92 per cent higher to 29,395.57 points. As a result, YTD return advanced to 6.4 per cent and market capitalisation rose by N1.4 trillion to N15.2 trillion on account of BUA Cement listing its shares.

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Friday’s session was not any different as the index rose mildly by 0.07 per cent to close at 29,415.39 points while market capitalisation closed at N15.174 trillion.

Against the foregoing, the YTD return for the market settled at 9.6 per cent. Analysing by sectors, all sector indices closed positive, with the Industrial Goods (+22.6 per cent) index leading the pack, followed by the Banking (11.6 per cent), Insurance (+6.7 per cent), Oil & Gas (+5.4 per cent), and Consumer Goods (+1.6 per cent) indices.
A total turnover of 2.683 billion shares worth N32.646 billion in 30,956 deals were traded this week by investors on the floor of the Exchange, in contrast to a total of 2.309 billion shares valued at N21.675 billion that exchanged hands the previous week in 14,906 deals.

The Financial Services industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 2.035 billion shares valued at N18.592 billion traded in 18,876 deals; thus contributing 75.87 and 56.95 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
The Conglomerates industry followed with 225.720 million shares worth N504.123 million in 1,217 deals while the Consumer Goods industry recorded a turnover of 123.382 million shares worth N3.116 billion in 3,403 deals.
Trading in the Top Three Equities namely, United Bank for Africa Plc, Zenith Bank Plc and Wapic Insurance Plc. (measured by volume) accounted for 934.661 million shares worth N10.925 billion in 7,194 deals, thus contributing 34.84 and 33.46 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
Fifty-one (51) equities appreciated in price during the week, higher than 44 equities in the previous week. Twenty equities depreciated in price, lower than 24 equities in the previous week, while 92 equities remained unchanged, lower than 97 equities recorded in the preceding week.

Reacting to the development, analysts who spoke to Sunday Sun said: “Looking ahead, while we expect profit-takers to dominate activities in the coming week, we still see significant legroom for a further rally as the elevated maturities from fixed income instruments hunt for investment vehicles. Nonetheless, we advise investors to cherry-pick fundamentally sound stocks”.