Stock Market To Maintain Upward Trend As Investor Confidence Remains High

The Nigerian stock market is expected to maintain its positive momentum this week, driven by strong investor sentiment and sustained buying interest across key sectors.

The market has sustained its positive momentum since trading started for the year, extending gains as investor sentiment improved markedly after several weeks of heightened profit-taking.

Looking ahead into the new week, Cowry Assets Management Limited said, “the equities market is expected to remain cautiously positive, supported by improving investor sentiment and selective accumulation in fundamentally strong stocks.

“While mild profit-taking may persist, market direction will largely depend on earnings releases, dividend expectations, and macroeconomic developments. Overall, trading is likely to be driven by value-focused positioning across key sectors.”

Imperial Asset Managers Limited also stated that “sentiment is expected to remain cautiously positive, with selective gains likely as investors focus on stock-specific fundamentals and earnings potential while monitoring profit taking in recent outperformers.”

Afrinvest Limited pointed out that “we expect the positive momentum on the NGX to extend into the coming week, supported by strong investor sentiment and sustained buying interest across key sectors.”

The domestic stock market last week kicked off the first full trading week of the year with renewed bullish momentum, as investors returned from the holidays with renewed appetite for stocks across key sectors.

The NGX All-Share Index (ASI) advanced 3.71 per cent week-on-week (W-o-W) to close at 162,298.08 points. Similarly, the market capitalisation crossed the psychological N100 trillion threshold, rising by N3.84 trillion to close the week at N103.776 trillion.

Market sentiment remained moderately positive, as reflected in a market breadth with 84 advancing stocks significantly outweighing 22 declining counters. Multiverse Mining and Exploration led the gainers table by 59.73 per cent to close at N23.40 per share. McNichols followed with a gain of 53.20 per cent to close at N5.50, while May & Baker Nigeria went up by 51.58 per cent to close at N28.80 per share.

On the other side, Aluminium Extrusion Industries led the decliners table by 19.75 per cent to close at N19.10 per share. Austin Laz & Company followed with a loss of 11.56 per cent to close at N4.13, while Sovereign Trust Insurance declined by 11.29 per cent to close at N3.38 per share.

Overall, a total turnover of 4.164 billion shares worth N94.026 billion in 248,254 deals was traded last week by investors on the floor of the Exchange, in contrast to a total of 7.821 billion shares valued at N134.471 billion that exchanged hands the previous week in 150,799 deals.

The Financial Services Industry led the activity chart with 2.651 billion shares valued at N35.957 billion traded in 93,706 deals; contributing 63.67 per cent and 38.24 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value, respectively.

The Services Industry followed with 369.963 million shares worth N3.383 billion in 16,521 deals, while the ICT Industry pulled a turnover of 297.938 million shares worth N5.727 billion in 21,548 deals.

Trading in the top equities, Universal Insurance, Linkage Assurance and Access Holdings accounted for 1.261 billion shares worth N5.060 billion in 13,819 deals, contributing 30.28 per cent and 5.38 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value, respectively.