The Nigerian equities market ended the trading day on a bullish note, rising by 47 bps to settle higher at 100,503.21 points. Despite this, market breadth closed negative with 28 losers against 23 gainers.
The market’s positive trajectory was mainly driven by Airtelaf which gained +4.76%. Ucap also rose by 9.92%, buoyed by an attractive interim dividend of 90 kobo per share and a 2-for-1 bonus share issue. Other notable gainers included Oando (+9.76%), Flourmill (+2.51%), Nascon (+2.91%), Nahco (+2.97%), and Accesscorp (+0.26%). On the downside, banking stocks saw declines in Zenithbank (-7.00%), FBNH (-4.00%), GTCO (-0.45%), and Fidelitybk (-1.86%) likely attributable to the proposed 50% windfall tax on banks’ 2023 realised FX gains.
Index heavyweights like Buafoods, Dangcem, Buacem, and Geregu remained unchanged, with net sellers’ quotes on the board.
Market turnover was N8.3 billion ($5.2 million), driven largely by a block trade in Airtelaf as well as in GTCO. Year to date, the market is up by +34.41%. We expect the market to trade near its current levels in the next session.