Santa comes early for Nigeria stock buyers

The much-expected ‘Santa Claus Rally’ seems to be coming earlier this year for Nigeria’s equities investors who are positioning in value counters ahead of full year results and corporate rewards like dividend.

A Santa Claus rally is the sustained increase in the stock market that occurs around the Christmas holiday. Most estimate these rallies happen in the week leading up to the Christmas holiday, while others see trends that begin Christmas Day through January 2.

Read also: Equities market rises by 0.17% in week ended December 8

Nigeria’s equities market moved higher by 0.22percent on Thursday, its fourth consecutive rally this week. This week, the market has risen by 1.28 percent, while month-to-date (MtD) it has advanced by 1.53percent.

The market’s benchmark performance indicator has also this week crossed the 72,000 market while the year-to-date (YtD) return has risen to +41.38percent.

Read also: Stock market rally continues

At the close of trading on Thursday December 14, the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) All-Share Index (ASI) and Market Capitalisation increased further from preceding day’s 72,299.79 points and N39.563trillion respectively to 72,455.83 points and N39.649trillion.

Infinity Trust Mortgage Bank led the league of gainers that pushed the market higher on Thursday after its share price rose from N2.34 to N2.57, adding 23kobo or 9.83percent. It was followed by that of John Holt which increased from N1.85 to N2.03, adding 18kobo or 9.73percent. Also, Ikeja Hotel rallied from N4.35 to N4.75, up by 40kobo or 9.20percent, while E-Tranzact International went up, from N6.50 to N7, adding 50kobo or 7.69percent.

Access Corporation, FCMB, Zenith Bank, UBA and Fidelity Bank were actively traded stocks on Thursday as investors in 6,845 deals exchanged 446,582,797 shares valued at N7.255billion.