The equities market of the Nigerian Exchange Ltd. (NGX) opened trading for the week on a bullish note driven by investors’ confidence, following the inauguration of President Bola Tinubu.
Tinubu, in his inaugural speech, said on Monday that the former administration did not capture fuel subsidy in the 2023 budget and he would ensure a unified exchange rate as part of measures to boost the Nigerian economy.
Specifically, the market capitalisation recorded a gain of ₦1.505 trillion or 5.22% to close at ₦30.349 trillion from ₦28.844 trillion posted on Friday.
Also, the All-Share Index (ASI) rose by 2,764.47 points or 5.22% to settle at 55,738.35 compared with 52,973.88 recorded at the previous trading. Accordingly, the Year-to-Date gain moderated to 8.76%.
Index heavyweights, MTN Nigeria, Dangote Cement and BUA Cement drove the market’s strong performance, alongside gains in Tier-one banking stocks such as Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO), Access Holdings, United Bank for Africa (UBA) and Zenith Bank.
Access Holdings in the shares of Transcorp topped the most traded chart with 199.62 million shares valued at N2.45 billion.
GTCO followed with 76.38 million shares worth ₦2.18 billion, while Zenith Bank traded 66.13 million shares valued at ₦1.92 billion.
UBA traded 81.99 million shares valued at ₦831.47 million, while Transcorp transacted 95.68 million shares worth ₦309.24 million.
Analysts at Vetiva Securities Ltd., said, "The market exhibited a favourable response to President Tinubu’s inauguration speech and his proposed plans for the country’s economy.
"This positive sentiment is anticipated to endure in the upcoming session, as investors responded positively to the latest transition of power to the new administration."
Market breadth closed positive at with 54 advancing stocks that outnumbered four declining ones.
Zenith Bank recorded the highest price gain of 10% to close at ₦29.70, per share.
Transcorp Hotels and Nigeria Breweries followed with a gain 10% each to close at ₦8.25 and ₦42.35, per share respectively.
Jaiz Bank and First City Monument Bank (FCMB) also went up by 10% each to close at ₦1.10 and ₦4.62 per share respectively.
Analysis of today’s market activities showed trade turnover settled higher relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions up by 106.07%.
A total of 1.08 billion shares valued at ₦15.80 billion were exchanged in 9,916 deals.