Equity investors gain N556bn as market rallies by 4.61%

Equity holders at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) saw the value of their shares appreciate by N556billion last week following 4.61 percent rally recorded by the bourse.

As bargain hunting persisted at the Customs Street, the equities market capitalisation rose from N12.084trillion at the beginning of last week’s trading and closed at N12.640 trillion. Likewise, the NSE All Share Index (ASI) rose by 1,741.8 points after it rose from 37,822.99 points to 39,564.79 points.

Week-on-week (wow), the NSE-30 Index which measure the performance of largely capitalised stocks at the Nigerian Stock Exchange rose from 1,809.97 points to 1,890.55 points. Also, the NSE Consumer Goods Index appreciated from 1,098.02 points to 1,136.19 points.

NSE Banking Index rose from 439.01 points to 448.19 points. NSE Insurance appreciated from 146.29 points to 147.69 points. NSE Oil/Gas Index rose from 186.95 points to 190.87 points. NSE Lotus Islamic Index moved up from 2,698.05 points to 2,860.04 points.

NSE Industrial Goods Index also rose from 2,267.48 points to 2,412.73 points; while NSE Alternative Securities Market (ASeM) Index declined from 1,000.74 points to 998.80 points.

Already investment analysts foresee this positive trend repeating itself this week, to be driven largely by gains in large cap stocks like Dangote Cement – the stock with the highest market capitalisation.

According to analysts at Proshare, “market outlook reveals increased speculative trading as bargain momentum wanes amid increased sell pressure.”

Also, analysts have allayed fears that the recent market would likely see a repeat of what happened in 2007.

According to FBN Capital “ose with long memories would be wrong to fear a repeat of 2007, when the index in Lagos closed the year almost 75 percent higher. In 2007 the surge was driven by retail and other domestic players, and partly based on widespread margin lending at a time of light regulation. is year (and last), by contrast, the oshore investor has driven the index,” the analysts said in their report titled “e Lagos exchange leads from the front.”