Kayode Ogunwale

 

The Nigerian equities market surged to record-breaking heights, with the All-Share index gaining 0.83 percent and surpassing the 80,000 psychological mark to settle at 80,328.57 points.

Today’s bullish performance was driven by positive sentiments in top tickers such as WAPCO (+9.67 percent), Transcorp (+9.79 percent), Zenith Bank (+2.50 percent), GTCo (+3.53 percent) and UBA (+3.28 percent). As a result, the ASI year till date rose to 7.43 percent, while market capitalization gained N363.31 billion to N43.96 trillion.

Transaction metrics were positive, with volume and value increasing by 33.3 percent and 6.48 percent, respectively. In actual terms, 1.19 million units worth N15.26 billion were traded, with Transcorp accounting for 25.1 percent of the overall volume and 26.7 percent of the value transacted.

Sectoral performance was bullish as the Insurance (+6.28 percent), Banking (+2.23 percent), Industrial (+0.67 percent), Oil and Gas (+0.59 percent) and Consumer Goods (+0.13 percent) indices closed in the green territory, following price appreciation in AIICO (+9.57 percent), Zenith Bank (+2.50 percent), WAPCO (+9.67 percent) Oando (+5.80 percent) and Flourmill (+2.99 percent), respectively.

Meanwhile, activities in the FGN bonds secondary market were quiet, with minimal activity seen at the short end of the curve. Consequently, the average yield declined by a marginal 1bp to settle at 13.72 percent.

Analysts expect a sustained bullish trend in the equities market this week driven by improved investors’ sentiment.

Meanwhile the Nigerian Naira appreciated by 1.47 percent against the US Dollar in the NAFEM Window, closing at a rate of N856.57/USD.