Nigeria equities hit 9-month high on renewed investor interest

The Nigerian equities market on Wednesday continued to trade with bullish sentiments for the fifth consecutive session rising to 29,437 points — a level last seen in January this year.

The all-share index (ASI), a barometer used to measure the performance of all listed equities on the exchange, jumped 1.58 percent — its biggest move since rising by 1.6 percent on October 6, 2020. Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns both increased to 9.7 percent.

Source: Bloomberg

Strong investor appetite in large market cap stocks drove Nestle to gain 10 percent and Dangote Cement gaining 2.2 percent.

Local investors have continued to flock the stock market in search for returns as yields on government debt tanked after a surprise September rate cut by the monetary policy committee (MPC).

Sectoral performance reflected the general market sentiment, as all sector indices gained. The consumer goods index gained with 5.7 percent led the gains, followed by the oil & gas (+2.1%), insurance (+1.5%) banking (+1.2%), and industrial goods (+1.1%) indices.

The total volume of trades decreased by 2.7 percent to 375.25 million units, valued at N4.63 billion and exchanged in 5,947 deals. Zenith Bank was the most traded stock by volume at 46.66 million units, while Bua Cement was the most traded stock by value at N1.04 billion.

Market sentiment, as measured by the market breadth, was positive (8.2x), as 41 tickers gained, relative to 5 losers. Nestle and Custodian topped the gainers list, while ROYALEX (-8.0%) and CUTIX (-6.8%) recorded the largest losses of the day.