Backed by buying pressure in the banking, insurance, and consumer goods sectors, Nigeria’s main stock market closed the month of February on a high note.

Nigeria’s listed stocks on the NGX increased in value by N390 billion, to reach N54.71 trillion by the end of the trading session, and the value of the NGX market capitalization surged significantly. At 99, 980.3 index points, the NGX All Share Index ended up +0.72 percent

Pension funds and institutional investors have piled into Nigerian stocks in anticipation of record profits from lenders booking revaluation gains on their foreign exchange positions, giving rise to a relatively bullish 2024 for the country’s stocks.

The market breadth index was positive as we have 37gainers and 19losers. Gainers were led by UBA PLC (+10%), while the top loser was SUNUASSURANCE PLC (-10%).

Other top gainers include GTCO PLC (+10%) while other bottom losers include: ETERNA -9.81%)

This comes after an N700 billion loss was recorded in trading the day before as investors reacted to the aggressive interest rate hikes by the Nigerian central bank. The gains reported today indicate that investors might be reconsidering because certain stocks started to gain appeal after the selloffs.

Regarding drivers, the stock market’s strong performance was mainly propelled by notable advances in the banking industry, resulting in increases in the market value of all Tier 1 Nigerian banks including GT, Zenith, access, First Bank, and UBA

Trading activity demonstrated improvement, with a total volume of 542.95 million shares traded, marking a notable increase of 146.72 million shares compared to the previous session’s volume of 396.23 million shares.

Moreover, the total trading value saw an uptick, with shares worth N8.697 billion changing hands, indicating a 49.28% increase from the N5.83 billion recorded in the preceding session.