Stock Market Up N875bn on Investors’ Interest in Geregu, 67 Others

The Nigerian stock market yesterday saw continued dominance by the bulls at the start of the week, driven by investors’ renewed interest in Geregu Power Plc and 67 others.

For the first time, Geregu Power crossed the N1 trillion market capitalization as its stock price appreciated by 7.52per cent to close at a share price of N429 per share, thus giving it a market capitalisation of N1.07 trillion.

However, the Nigerian Exchange Limited All-Share Index (NGX ASI) gained 1,597.93 basis points or 1.92 per cent to close at 84,640.89 basis points. Also, market capitalisation rose by N875 billion to close at N46.317 trillion.

As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive, as 68 stocks gained relative to eight losers. Chams Holding Company, DAAR Communications, AXA Mansard

Insurance, PZ Cussons Nigeria, Sovereign Trust Insurance and Tantalizers emerged the highest price gainer of 10 per cent each to close at N2.53, 99 kobo, N6.49, N32.45, 66 kobo and 55 kobo respectively, per share.

Cadbury Nigeria followed with a gain of 9.98 per cent to close at N26.45, while Jaiz Bank advanced by 9.93 per cent to close at N3.32, per share. On the other side, Abbey Mortgage Bank led others on the losers’ chart with 9.52 per cent to close at N2.47, per share. Julius Berger followed with a decline of 3.54 per cent to close at N54.50, while Custodian Investment shed 3.45 per cent to close at N9.80, per share.

Africa Prudential lost 2.78 per cent to close at N8.75, while FBN Holdings (FBNH) depreciated by 1.79 per cent to close at N27.50, per share. The total volume traded advanced by 34.4 per cent to 807.51 million units, valued at N11.03 billion, and exchanged in 13,647 deals. Transactions in the shares of Transnational Corporation (Transcorp) led the activity with 66.895 million shares worth N956.007 million, AIICO Insurance followed with account of 62.293 million shares valued at N78.987 million, while Wema Bank traded 41.573 million shares valued at N387.926 million.

Jaiz Bank traded 39.194 million shares worth N128.016 million, while FCMB Group traded 38.150 million shares worth N423.122 million.

Looking ahead, United Capital Plc said “we expect positive sentiment to drive the market, as bargain hunting continues. We expect the local bourse to record a positive performance this week. Investors are expected to continue to cherry-pick stocks with strong fundamentals, (value or growth) for dividend scouting investors, ahead of full year, 2023 earnings season. At different intervals, we expect profit booking and mild sell-offs.”