Nigeria’s stock market hits new high ahead of election

Nigeria’s equities market furthered its gaining streak on Thursday by 0.61percent or N180billion following strong bid for the shares of BUA Foods, MRS and Transcorp Hotels.

Despite that the overall market sentiment still remains low ahead of Saturday’s election, BUA Foods finished as best performing stock on the bid cart, rising by N6.60 or 8.87percent, from N74.40 to N81.

It was followed by MRS which increased from
N25.30 to N27.80, adding N2.50 or 9.88percent; and Transcorp Hotels which rose from day open low of N6.05 to N6.50, up by 45kobo or 7.44percent.

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At the close of trading session on Thursday, the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) All-Share Index (ASI) and its equities market capitalisation increased from preceding day’s lows of 54,315.53 points and N29.588trillion respectively to 54,646.38 points and N29.768trillion.

The market’s year-to-date (YtD) return increased further to 6.62percent. In 2,651 deals, investors exchanged 142,036,608 shares valued at N1.846billion. UBA, Courteville, Zenith Bank, GTCO and Chams were top-5 traded stocks on Thursday.

Commercial Papers issuance

Nosak Distilleries Limited Series 2 Commercial Paper Issuance of up to N5billion under its N200billion Commercial Paper programme is Open and scheduled to close Wednesday March 1, 2023. The proceed of the issue will be used to support the issuers short-term funding requirements.

Also, Robust International Commodities Limited (ROBUST) Series 3 & 4 Commercial Paper Issuance of up to N15billion under its N20billion Commercial Paper programme is Open and scheduled to close Friday February 24, 2023. The proceed of the issue will be used to support the issuers short-term working capital needs.

Market development

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signing ceremony between Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) and Pan-African Payment Settlement System (PAPSS) is scheduled to hold on Tuesday February 28.

The virtual event will feature Benedict Oramah, President of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and Lamido Yuguda, Director General, Securities and Exchange Commission, among other key stakeholders.

NGX is entering into an MoU with PAPSS to enable efficient cross-border payments across capital markets in Africa.

This will complement the laudable and monumental launch of the African Exchanges Linkage Project (AELP) Link, by providing a faster, easier, and cheaper means of transferring funds in cross-border securities transactions within Africa.