In the first two months of 2025, ten stockbrokers on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) facilitated transactions totaling N601.078 billion, accounting for over half of the exchange’s trade value. Cardinalstone Securities led the pack with N154.822 billion in transactions, representing 13.83% of the total value. APT Securities & Funds and Stanbic IBTC Stockbrokers followed with N87.296 billion and N77.381 billion in trades, respectively, making up 7.80% and 6.91% of the total.
The remaining stockbrokers in the top ten include Meristem Stockbrokers, Coronation Securities, Cordros Securities, and several others, contributing significant values ranging from N45 billion to N25 billion. In terms of share volume, the top ten firms traded 22.662 billion shares, representing 46.86% of all shares traded on the NGX during January and February. Notably, Global Asset Management and Cardinalstone Securities led in volume, accounting for 8.46% and 8.45%, respectively.
The NGX performance also saw a positive shift in early 2025, with the All-Share Index gaining 4.76% by the end of February. Market capitalization grew by N4.43 trillion, reaching N64.19 trillion. This growth was fueled by strong corporate earnings, portfolio repositioning, and performance expectations for the upcoming earnings season. The market’s positive performance was slightly tempered by profit-taking and the delay in audited 2024 financial reports.
Despite mixed sentiment, experts remain optimistic about the outlook for March. Ambrose Omordion of InvestData Consulting highlighted that corporate Nigeria’s resilience was reflected in the strong earnings reports, which helped mitigate economic challenges. However, uncertainty remains due to the recent pause in interest rate adjustments by the monetary authority, with hopes that a rate cut later in the year could further boost economic growth and stock market performance.
SOURCE: LEADERSHIP