The Nigerian stock market traded northward, gaining N822.25 billion in the just-concluded week’s trading, despite investors being more cautious of major stocks, including bank shares.
The resilience pushed the All-Share Index (ASI) to advance by 0.92 per cent to close at 141,845.35 points.
Overall market capitalisation reflected the uptrend, rising by 0.92 per cent to N89.74 trillion and delivering a weekly N822.25 billion gain to investors.
Analysts say investors’ reaction to the latest inflation figures, the half-year financial performance of major banks and speculation about a possible interest rate cut from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in the coming week drove market sentiment.
Pinnacle Daily reported during the week that Nigeria’s headline inflation declined for the fifth consecutive time to 20.12 per cent in August from 21.88 per cent in July, representing a 1.76 percentage point decline.
READ ALSO: Nigerian Stock Market Sees Significant Gains Despite Volatility
The organisation also reported major banks’ half-year financial results, noting that Zenith Bank’s profit dropped from ₦532.18 billion to ₦577.997 billion.
A review of the week’s market performance showed that trading on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) floor maintained a positive trajectory. However, overall trading activity was somewhat muted as weak sentiment in the banking sector weighed on investors’ sentiment.
The financial results from the major banks triggered sell-offs across their shares and kept investors in a cautious mood during the week’s trading.
However, portfolio rebalancing efforts and selective positioning continued, with investors factoring in the deceleration of the inflation rate.
In terms of overall market performance, the year-to-date (YtD) return of the index improved further to 37.81 per cent, a clear signal of the underlying bullish sentiment that has persisted despite intermittent bouts of profit-taking.
Market breadth was relatively balanced, with 42 gainers against 41 losers, underscoring the cautious but steady tone.
However, trading activity was less impressive as total deals slipped by 4.17 per cent to 127,333 trades, while both volume and value of transactions declined by 14.20 per cent and 14.51 per cent to settle at 2.74 billion units and N85.23 billion, respectively.
READ ALSO: Why Conoil, Oando, 3 Others Are Worst-Performing Oil Stocks on NGX
There were also mixed pictures on sectoral performance as four of the six major indices tracked advanced.
The pockets of optimism witnessed in the market saw the banking index shed 2.57 per cent to close at 1,491.31 points, as the stocks of United Bank for Africa (UBA), Wema Bank, Sterling, and Zenith Bank came under heavy sell pressure following the release of their financials.
The insurance index also declined by 4.67 per cent to close at 1,249.11 points as Cornerstone, Royal Exchange, Veritas Kapital, and WAPIC
Insurance drove the negative sentiment.
On the contrary, the consumer goods index led the gain, climbing by 5.48 per cent to close at 3,358.16 points on the back of strong price movements in Unilever, Nigerian Breweries, May & Baker, and Cadbury.
The oil and gas index inched up gaining 2.79 per cent to close at 2,486.71 points. The commodity index saw a 1.42 per cent appreciation to close at 1,112.02 points
Further reflecting investors’ confidence, the industrial goods index traded in the green with a slight 0.05 per cent rise to 4,928.90 points.
Among individual stocks, Guinness Nigeria stood out as the best performer of the week, recording a 28.6 per cent share price gain to N183.90 as investors repositioned strongly in its shares.
Multiverse followed with a gain of 21.3 per cent to N13.95, while Eunisell and Etranzact advanced by 20.3 per cent and 11.7 per cent to N30.55 and N16.70 respectively.
Chelleram also caught investor interest with a 9.8 per cent share price gain to N14.60 to be among the five top gainers.
On the reverse, Omatek emerged as the worst performer, losing 18.18 per cent on its share price to N1.08.
READ ALSO: NIIRA 2025: Insurance Stocks Lead NGX N344Bn Gain in August
Cornerstone Insurance followed with a loss of 15.42 per cent to N6.20, as Secure Electronic Tech trailed behind with 12.79 per cent to 0.75k.
Royal Exchange share price lost 11.3 per cent to N2.04 as UBA stock declined by 9.2 per cent to N44.20 to become the top five losers.
As investors adopted a more cautious approach towards these stocks, in the coming week, all eyes will be on the CBN’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting to rein in inflation as speculation about a possible rate cut heightens.
“Looking ahead, investors are expected to trade cautiously but positively as they await the outcome of the MPC meeting next week. The decision on interest rates will likely be a defining factor for portfolio rebalancing, particularly in light of the recently published CPI numbers, which suggest a moderating inflation trend,” analysts at Cowry Asset Management said.
The researchers believe that anticipation of the third quarter earnings season could also drive selective positioning across companies with strong fundamentals.
They noted that from a technical standpoint, the ASI continues to sustain its bullish pattern, trading above key moving averages while forming higher highs and higher lows.
“This trajectory indicates that the uptrend remains intact and in a bullish territory but is not yet overbought, leaving sufficient room for further upside…,” the analysts added.
Alex is a business journalist cum data enthusiast with the Pinnacle Daily. He can be reached via ealex@thepinnacleng.com, @ehime_alex on X
