Opening the week, the equities market of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) on Monday extended gains from the prior week as the overall capitalization gained N363 billion.
The NGX All-Share Index (ASI) gained 663.92 basis points or 0.83 percent to close at 80,328.58 basis points. Also, market capitalisation rose by N363 billion to close at N43.957 trillion.
Accordingly, the equities market investors’ Year-to-Date (YtD) return increased to 7.4per cent.
From a sectoral perspective, gains in NGX Insurance gained 6.3 percent, NGX Banking added 2.2 percent, NGX Industrial Goods rose by 0.7 percent, NGX Oil & Gas appreciated by 0.6per cent), and NGX Consumer Goods grew by 0.1 percent to reflect the overall market performance.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive, as 54 stocks gained relative to 18 losers. Cornerstone Insurance, Cutix, Julius Berger, Lasaco Assurance, Omatek Ventures, and Jaiz Bank emerged as the highest price gainers of 10 percent each to close at N1.87, N2.75, N46.75, N2.42, 99 kobo, and N2.53 respectively, per share.
Wema Bank followed with a gain of 9.89 percent to close at N8.11, while BUA Foods advanced by 9.29 percent to close at N152.90, per share.
AXA Mansard Insurance rose by 6.85 percent to close at N3.90, while Sterling Financial Holdings Company and Royal Exchange appreciated by 9.88 percent each to close at N6.34 and 89 kobo respectively, per share.
On the other side, DAAR Communications led others on the losers’ chart with 9.30 percent to close at N1.17, per share. Eterna followed with a decline of 9.30 percent to close at N15.05, while CWG shed 7.05 percent to close at N8.30, per share.
PZ Cussons Nigeria lost 6.90 percent to close at N27.00, while Fidelity Bank depreciated by 5.99 percent to close at N13.35, per share.
The total volume traded increased by 33.3 percent to 1.19 billion units, valued at N15.26 billion, and exchanged in 16,081 deals. Transactions in the shares of Transnational Corporation (Transcorp) led the activity with 298.303 million shares worth N4.078 billion. FCMB Group followed with an account of 106.053 million shares valued at N1.084 billion, while Fidelity Bank traded 87.654 million shares valued at N1.189 billion.
Sterling Financial Holdings Company traded 62.547 million shares worth N395.090 million, while Unity Bank traded 32.566 million shares worth N82.329 million.
On equities’ performance, United Capital Plc stated that “in January 2024, we expect the Bulls to prevail, as bargain hunting continues. Given the global developments across major central banks in advanced economies, high base expectations for inflation, and improved economic growth prospects, we expect the local bourse to record a positive performance this new week.
“Investors may continue to cherry-pick stocks with strong fundamentals, (value or growth). However, value stocks may be a choice for dividend-scouting investors, ahead of the full-year, 2023 earnings season. At different intervals, we expect mild sell-offs, albeit insignificant.”
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