Nigerian stocks hit four-week high as company reports raise hope

The Nigerian bourse raked in N737.940 billion this week in a five-day gaining spree, as investors loaded up on stocks anticipated to deliver good returns at a time companies began to issue earnings reports for 2020.

The All-Share Index rose by 3.442 per cent to close at 42,412.66 index points, the biggest weekly gain so far in 2021, a PREMIUM TIMES analysis showed.

Market capitalisation rose by the same margin and stood at N22.187 trillion.

The uptrend is expected to extend in the coming week as dealmakers, analysts and speculators expect the release of more full-year financial statements of large and mid-cap firms, as well as the big five banks.

Equities also saw appreciation following the holding of the benchmark lending rate at 11.5 per cent on Tuesday, as the central bank’s monetary policy committee chose not to pursue expansion or contraction to fight inflation.

All the key market performance indicators improved. The market reported a positive breadth as 41 gainers emerged against 34 losers.

Sectoral Performance

Trade volume of 2.570 billion shares worth N27.884 billion was recorded in 31,466 deals relative to the 4.288 billion shares valued at N25.989 billion posted in 32,849 deals last week.

ALSO READ: Nigerian stocks extend rise ahead of major earnings reports

On the activity chart, the financial services sector led trade with 1.497 billion shares estimated at N12.695 billion traded in 14,324 deals. Specifically, it added 58.22 per cent and 45.53 per cent to the total equity volume and value respectively.

The conglomerates industry came next, trading 363.263 million shares worth N821.428 million in 1,722 deals. The consumer goods sector was third, trading 220.759 million shares priced at N3.953 million in 5,952 deals.