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By Chinwendu Obienyi
Owing to strong appetite for stocks, its transactional value on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) surged significantly by 88.4 per cent to N16.4 billion at the end of March 2024.
This was even as the market’s year-to-date (YTD) return stood at 39.8 per cent, up from 33.7 per cent. The stock market dropped by N650.5 billion in February amid corporate earnings by listed companies as investors divested into the Treasury Bills (T-bills) market.
Investors pulled out from the stock market during the month over the attractive yield of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on T-bills as the inflation rate increased to 29.9 per cent in January 2024. However, the All Share Index (ASI) which opened 99,980.30 points, gained 4.6 per cent to close at 104,562.06 points.
This surge contributed to a year-to-date return of 39.8 per cent, up from the previous figure of 33.7 per cent. Additionally, market capitalization saw a monthly increase of 8.1 per cent to N59.1 trillion, from N54.707 trillion to close the month at N59.121 trillion, representing about N4.41 trillion gain.
Similarly, monthly trading activity improved as average volume and value of stocks traded rose 9.7 per cent and 88.4 per cent month-on-month (m/m) to 595.7 million units and N16.4 billion, respectively.
Transcorp (1.3 billion units), GTCO (625.1 million units), and UBA (621.5 million units) were the top traded stocks by volume for the month, while GTCO (N28.8 billion), Transcorp (N22.4 billion), and Zenith Bank (N18.4 billion) led by value.
Across the sectors within our purview, performance was largely positive as five indices gained while the Oil & Gas index closed flat. The Insurance and Banking indices led the gainers, up 2.6 per cent and 0.6 per cent m/m respectively on the back of improved buying interest in NEM (+19.5 per cent), Linkage Assurance (+17.8 per cent), GTCO (+32.6 per cent), and Accesscorp (+27.9 per cent).
Similarly, price appreciation in MTNN (+4.1 per cent) and CWG (+35.1 per cent) boosted the AFR-ICT index by 0.3 per cent. Following suit, the Industrial and Consumer Goods indices rose 10 basis points (bps) apiece on the back of price uptick in WAPCO (+19.1 per cent), Julius Berger (+18.7 per cent), Flourmill (+27.7 per cent), and PZ (+23.8 per cent).
The top performing stocks for the month were JULI (+178.3 per cent), Transpower (+57.1 per cent), and NEM (+50.0 per cent) while DAAR (-22.1 per cent), Vitafoam (-21.4 per cent), and Sunu Assurance (-20.4 per cent) were the top underperforming stocks.
Reacting to the development, market operators said that the positive sentiment would linger in April but will be spurred by increased corporate activities following banks recapitalisation announcement and growing FPI traction into equities.
