Renewed investor appetite for two of the market’s heavyweight names drove the Nigerian stock market to another positive close yesterday, with MTN Nigeria Communications and Dangote Cement leading a broader rally across 54 advancing stocks.
MTN Nigeria’s share price climbed 2.62 percent to ₦780.00, while Dangote Cement outpaced it with a 5.40 percent gain to close at ₦1,015.00 per share. Between them, the two stocks helped push overall market capitalisation up by ₦1.86 trillion, from ₦150.271 trillion to ₦152.136 trillion, while the Nigerian Exchange Limited All-Share Index advanced 1.24 percent to settle at 234,178.23 basis points. That single day’s move has nudged the index’s month-to-date return to +3.3 percent, with the year-to-date figure now standing at a substantial +52.4 percent.
The gains weren’t confined to a couple of large-cap names. Every major sector index finished in positive territory, Industrial Goods led with a 3.4 percent advance, followed by Insurance at 1.2 percent, Oil & Gas at 0.6 percent, Consumer Goods at 0.5 percent and Banking at 0.1 percent, suggesting the day’s optimism was fairly broad-based rather than concentrated in one corner of the market.
That breadth showed up clearly in the day’s advancers-to-decliners ratio, 54 stocks gained ground against just 17 that fell, a lopsided result that points to strong overall sentiment. Cadbury Nigeria and Zichis Agro Allied tied for the day’s biggest percentage gainers, both rising the maximum 10 percent to close at ₦61.60 and ₦26.62 respectively. NACHO wasn’t far behind, up 9.99 percent to ₦133.65, while Daarcomm gained 9.94 percent to ₦1.99 and Ikeja Hotel rose 9.90 percent to ₦47.20.
On the other end, CMFC, Fortis Global Insurance and Trans Express all hit the day’s maximum decline of 10 percent, closing at ₦3.33, ₦2.61 and ₦2.70 respectively. ETI slid 9.98 percent to ₦85.70, and Mecure dropped 9.96 percent to close at ₦85.45.
Despite the price gains, actual trading activity slowed slightly, total volume fell one percent to 493.67 million units, valued at ₦28.02 billion across 49,969 deals. Zenith Bank remained the market’s most actively traded stock, accounting for 94.29 million units worth ₦9.91 billion.
Looking ahead, analysts at United Capital Plc expect the momentum from last Friday’s rebound to potentially carry into the current week, with banking stocks likely to stay resilient amid the ongoing recapitalisation drive, while Consumer Goods and Insurance could attract investors seeking more defensive positioning. “Overall direction will likely hinge on stock-specific earnings positioning ahead of H2 results season,” the firm said.
