Analysts have said the Nigerian stock market is expected to close positive as investors seek bargain hunting opportunities.
The equities market maintained its upward trajectory last week, buoyed by renewed investor confidence, robust earnings releases for Q1 2025, and continued dividend declarations.
In what was a holiday-shortened trading week due to the Easter celebration, the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) still witnessed a resurgence in activity, largely driven by strong appetite for financial and consumer goods stocks.
Analysts Optimism
Going into the new week, analysts at Cowry Assets Management Limited said “we expect the bullish sentiment to persist into the coming week as investors continue to react positively to ongoing corporate earnings releases.
“The market is likely to remain dominated by fundamentals, with particular attention paid to dividend-paying stocks and companies with strong Q1 outlooks. However, investors are advised to remain discerning and prioritise fundamentally sound equities, as macroeconomic headwinds and profit-taking tendencies may temper gains in select segments.”
Last Week’s Trading Activities
Investor sentiment turned positive last week following the release of strong Q1, 2025 earnings by some listed corporates. As a result, the benchmark index advanced by 1.46 per cent to close at 105,752.61 points.
Also, market capitalisation gained N966 billion to close the week at N66.465 trillion. The bullish sentiment was further reinforced by the listing by introduction of Legend Internet Plc, which added two billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each to the bourse. This new listing contributed approximately N11.28 billion to the overall market capitalisation at the time of listing, providing an additional source of optimism for market participants.
From a sectoral perspective, the performance was largely bullish across the board. The NGX Consumer Goods index led the charge, advancing impressively by 8.57 per cent week on week. NGX Insurance index followed with a weekly growth of 7.30 per cent, while NGX Banking and NGX Commodity indices index rose by 5.06 per cent and 0.04 per cent respectively W-o-W.
However, the NGX Oil & Gas and NGX Industrial Goods indices both ended the week in negative territory, dipping by 0.07 per cent and 3.43 per cent respectively.
The market breadth for the week was positive as 64 equities appreciated in price, 27 equities depreciated in price, while 57 equities remained unchanged. International Breweries led the gainers table by 40.00 per cent to close at N7.70, per share. NASCON Allied Industries followed with a gain of 26.22 per cent to close at N52.95, while Africa Prudential went up by 25.64 per cent to close to N17.15, per share.
On the other side, VFD Group led the decliners table by 82.19 per cent to close at N17.10, per share. John Holt followed with a loss of 18.60 per cent to close at N6.30, while Dangote Cement declined by 10.00 per cent to close at N432.00, per share.
Overall, a total turnover of 1.854 billion shares worth N56.025 billion in 51,386 deals was traded last week by investors on the floor of the Exchange, in contrast to a total of 1.525 billion shares valued at N43.006 billion that exchanged hands previous week in 51,156 deals.
The Financial Services (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 1.266 billion shares valued at N29.400 billion traded in 24,351 deals; contributing 68.28 per cent and 52.48 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively. The ICT industry followed with 136.707 million shares worth N12.472 billion in 2,974 deals, while the Consumer Goods Industry traded a turnover of 118.617 million shares worth N4.415 billion in 5,869 deals.
Trading in the top equities; Fidelity Bank, Access Holdings and Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) accounted for 797.873 million shares worth N22.043 billion in 8,618 deals, contributing 43.03 per cent and 39.34 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
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