The Nigerian equities market kicked off September on a bullish note, with investors’ wealth growing by N123.45 billion due to strong bargain hunting in Oando and banking stocks.
The All Share Index (ASI) rose by 0.22%, closing at 96,793.95 points, while the Market Capitalization increased to N55.60 trillion from N55.47 trillion.
This positive performance marks renewed investor confidence after a 1.2% decline in August, with Year-to-Date returns now at 29.16%.
The market’s growth was largely driven by significant gains in the share prices of Oando, Access Bank, UBA, Zenith Bank, and GTCO.
UBA led in trading volume, exchanging 54.84 million shares worth N1.32 billion, followed by Zenith Bank and Oando with 39.98 million and 38.38 million shares traded, respectively.
Analysts predict a stable market for September, supported by the possibility of the Central Bank of Nigeria easing its monetary policy amid slight inflation reductions.
A total of 498.11 million shares valued at N11.04 billion were traded in 13,149 deals, showing a mixed performance compared to the previous session.
Despite the gains, investor sentiment was slightly negative, with 29 stocks depreciating and 28 gaining. Livestock was the worst performer, dropping 10% in value, while Oando led the gainers with a 9.95% increase, closing at N84.55 per share.