Two Nigerian tier-1 lenders Zenith Bank Plc and GTCO Plc have crossed the N1trillion market capitalisation mark. This is even as the stock market’s All Share Index (ASI) surpassed the 60,000 psychological points on Tuesday, pushing the market’s year-to-date (YtD) postive return to +17.28 percent.
Zenith Bank which closed at N34 per share is now valued at N1.067trillion. The share price is nearing a 52-week high of N35.5 after investors on Tuesday traded 52,436,609 shares of the tier one bank valued at
N1.77billion. Zenith has 31,396,493,786 shares outstanding.
Likewise, GTCO at N34.4 per share is valued at N1.01trillion. Its shares outstanding are
29,431,179,224 units. The share price is also nearing 52-week high of N35.5. Investors on Tuesday traded GTCO’s 78,985,560 shares worth N2.692billion.
This positive comes on the heels of banking stocks heading for a six year high as investors cheer the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) foreign exchange (FX) liberalisation. Investors have also raised bets on Oil and Gas stocks since the removal of petrol subsidy.
Read also: Naira strengthens as demand for dollars moderates at parallel market
“We anticipate bulls persist over equities in the coming session,” said Futureview research analysts in their post market commentary on Tuesday.
Tuesday’s equities trading data showed that NGX Banking Index has risen this year by 51.06 percent, while NGX Oil and Gas Index is up YtD by 66.45 percent. In addition, NGX Insurance Index has increased by 58.80 percent while NGX Consumer Goods Index is up by 51.05 percent.
The market strengthened its journey into the green zone on Tuesday by 1.30 percent as the record positive sentiment persists on the Nigerian Bourse. This month, the market has risen by 7.78percent.
The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) All-Share Index and its equities Market Capitalisation which stood at 59,338.76 points and N59.338trillion respectively on Monday increased to 60,108.86 points and
N32.729trillion.
Access Corporation, GTCO, UBA, Sterling Bank and Zenith Bank were actively traded stocks on Tuesday as investors in 9,463 deals exchanged 763,696,265 shares worth N12.533billion.
“What should investors do about Naira exchange rate liberalisation? The last time the official foreign exchange rate and the parallel market rate converged was in 2017. Are there lessons to be learned from that experience?
“We think that there are, if one is careful with the data. Bank stocks look like beneficiaries as well as the stock market overall,” said Lagos-based analysts at Coronation Research.
