The market opened for four trading days this week as the Federal Government of Nigeria declared Wednesday, January 1, 2025, as a Public Holiday to commemorate the New Year Day Celebration. Meanwhile, the Nigerian equities market sustained its positive momentum, supported by strong buying interest in the Insurance, Consumer Goods, and Banking sectors. Consequently, the NGX All-Share Index (NGXASI) rose by 142bps to close at 103,586.33 points at the end of the week. Similarly, market capitalization advanced by ₦1.25 trillion to ₦63.17 trillion, recording a 1.42% gain week-on-week. This impressive performance enhanced the Year-to-Date (YTD) return to 0.64%, reflecting continued investor confidence in the market’s resilience.
A total turnover of 2.62 billion shares worth N69.74 billion in 47,953 deals was traded this week by investors on the floor of the Exchange, in contrast to a total of 1.39 billion shares valued at N52.02 billion that exchanged hands last week in 33,411 deals.
The Financial Services Industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 1.75 billion shares valued at N17.08 billion traded in 20,595 deals; thus contributing 66.88% and 24.49% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively. The Services industry followed with 205.81 million shares worth N1.83 billion in 3,654 deals. Third place was the ICT Industry, with a turnover of 189.94 million shares worth N1.84 billion in 3,686 deals. Trading in the top three equities namely ROYAL EXCHANGE PLC, CHAMS HOLDING COMPANY PLC and UNIVERSAL INSURANCE PLC (measured by volume) accounted for 612.03 million shares worth N773.44 million in 2,108 deals, contributing 23.38% and 1.11% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
Sectoral performance was mainly positive, with four indices posting gains, while the Oil & Gas index declined by 0.5% w/w, following sell-off in TOTAL (-6.5%) and OANDO (-4.23%). The Insurance (+26.9% w/w) and Consumer Goods (+2.2% w/w) indices outperformed, supported by strong buying interest in SUNUASSUR (+27.9%), NEM (+19.1%), MANSARD (+16.1%), UNILEVER (+20%), BUAFOODS (5.1%) and GUINNESS (+4.9%). Meanwhile, the Banking (+0.6% w/w) and Industrial (+0.5% w/w) indices recorded modest gains, driven by price appreciations in ACCESSCORP (+2.1%), ZENITHBANK (+1.2%), BETAGLASS (+10%) and WAPCO (+3.6%).
Eight-two (82) equities appreciated in price during the week, higher than sixty-four (64) equities in the previous week. Eighteen (18) equities depreciated in price lower than twenty (20) in the previous week, while fifty-two (52) equities remained unchanged, lower than sixty-nine (69) recorded in the previous week.
