Equity Investors Reap N8.7 trillion Profits

• As Bellwethers Drive Market Rally,

BY BONNY AMADI

The Nigerian equities market (NGX) opened the week on bullish note, ushering in the new week with N8.7 trillion gain the prior week.

The positive momentum in the Nigerian equities market is likely to persist this week and in the near term, supported by strong investor sentiment, improving liquidity, and sustained interest in funda mentally strong stocks.

Remarkably market ended last week on a strong note, extending its bullish run as gains in key stocks supported overall market performance

The benchmark NGX All-Share Index (ASI) advanced by 6.56% week-on-week to settle at 217,131.54 points, while market capitalization increased by 6.60% to N139.83 trillion, buoyed by the supplementary listing of 3.62 billion shares.

This translates to a gain of approximately N8.67 trillion, reflecting a notable improvement from the N1.36 trillion recorded in the prior week.

As a result, the year-to-date return strengthened to 39.53 percent, indicating sustained positive market momentum.

Also, market breadth closed upbeat at 1.69x, with 61 gainers compared to 36 decliners, indicating broad-based buying interest across the market.

Trading activity remained robust during the week, with the number of deals, volume traded, and total value traded rising by 10.82%, 6.77%, and 28.67% week-on-week, respectively.

In total, investors exchanged 3.59 billion shares valued at N195.69 billion across 255,283 deals, highlighting increased market participation.

Sectoral performance closed the week on a broadly positive note, as strong gains across key sectors outweighed the marginal loss recorded in the Insurance space.

The Insurance sector was the sole laggard, slipping by 0.04% week-on-week, largely due to selloffs in WAPIC and INTENEGINS, which offset gains seen in counters like ROYALEX.

On the upside, the Oil & Gas sector led the market with a sharp 17.59% week-on-week advance, driven by strong buying interest in ARADEL, JAPAULGOLD, and SEPLAT.

The Banking sector followed with an 11.85% gain, supported by renewed investor demand for ETI, STANBIC, and FIRSTHOLDCO. Consumer Goods also recorded a solid increase of 7.76%, underpinned by sustained participation in UNION- DICON and GUINNESS.

Meanwhile, the Industrial Goods sector posted a modest gain of 1.26%, supported by price appreciation in WAPCO and DANGCEM. On the gainers’ chart, TRANSEXPR led with a 60.5% surge, followed by ETI (+46.3%), STANBIC (+36.6%), ROYALEX (+29.4%), and ARADEL (+28.9%), driven primarily by strong buying interest.

Conversely, WAPIC led the losers’ group with -14.4%, IKEJAHOTEL followed with -14.4%, INTENEGINS dipped by 13.8%, ACADEMY – 12.6%, and HONYFLOUR -11.0%, topping the losers’ list, reflecting profit-taking and persistent selling pressure.

Looking ahead, the positive momentum in the Nigerian equities market is likely to persist in the near term, supported by strong investor sentiment, improving liquidity, and sustained interest in fundamentally sound and large cap stocks.

The recent surge in trading activity suggests growing market participation, which could continue to underpin price appreciation.

However, the pace of gains may moderate as investors begin to lock in profits following the sharp rally recorded in recent weeks.

Additionally, attention is expected to remain on corporate earnings releases and macroeconomic developments, which could shape market direction.

Overall, while the bullish bias is expected to be maintained, intermittent pullbacks are likely as the market consolidates recent gains.