Stock investors at the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) booked about N969 billion gain in October – thanks to banking, oil & gas, and industrial stocks that helped push the market to new highs.
The stock market opened the review month with a negative return of -0.07percent but closed with a positive return of 4.52percent on Friday, October 29, the last trading day in the month.
The nation’s equities market benefited immensely from record better-than-expected nine months (9M’2021) results as investors moved to take positions in value stocks ahead of their corporate results, most of which were berthed with interim dividends.
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NGX Banking Index – which provides an investable benchmark to capture the performance of the banking sector increased most in October by 10.66percent, followed by NGX Oil & Gas Index which rose by 6.43percent, NGX Industrial Index (+4.21percent), and NGX Insurance Index (+3.98percent).
The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) All-Share Index (ASI) and Market Capitalisation which stood at 40,243.05 points and N20.969trillion respectively at the beginning of the review month of October, increased to 41,763.26 points and N21.794 trillion respectively at end of the trading session on Friday, October 29.
Considering this huge gain in October, coupled with the soon-to-wane third-quarter (Q3) earnings season, market watchers believe that going into November, the stock market will see a slight moderation in record rally as investors begin to take profits on recent gains.
