Stock market defies inflation report to sustain rally

Nigeria stock market sustained its gains on Thursday, defying National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report showing January inflation rate reached new high of 29.90 percent in January 2024, compared with 28.92 percent in December.

The market closed in green after rising by 0.58 percent or about N329billion as investors bought mostly shares of Honeywell Flour Mills Plc, Juli Plc and University Press Plc, among others that were on demand.

Also, the stock market’s year-to-date (YtD) return increased further to 39.22percent at the close of trading.

The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) All-Share Index (ASI) and Market Capitalisation increased further from preceding day’s lows of 103,498.28 points and N56.632trillion respectively to 104,100 points and N56.961trillion.

Honeywell Flour Mills share price increased from N4 to N4.30, up by 30kobo or 7.50percent. Also, University Press share price moved from N2.61 to N2.87, adding 26kobo or 9.96percent, while Juli went up from N1.22 to N1.34, gaining 12kobo or 9.84percent.

In 8,168 deals, investors exchanged 284,489,050 shares valued at N6.913billion. GTCO, Transcorp, UBA, Mutual Benefit, and Axa Mansard were actively traded stocks on Thursday.