Stocks gain N700bn in 3-day trading week

Nigeria’s stock market opened the first trading week in May on a bullish note, gaining approximately N700billion in the holiday-shortened week. In the three-day trading week to May 6, the market rose by 2.62 percent.

The record gain on the Nigerian Bourse in line with market watchers’ expectations was driven majorly by investors who bought mostly consumer goods, industrial and banking stocks while they sold mostly oil & gas and insurance stocks.

The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) All Share Index (ASI) and Market Capitalisation closed the review week at 50,937.01 points and N27.459trillion respectively as against week-open lows of 49,638.94 points and N26.761trillion.

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In the review week, Lagos-based Meristem research analysts had expected the positive sentiment that prevailed in the market in past weeks to persist, saying that the positive corporate performance in first-quarter (Q1) 2022 should spur buying interest. They expected the market to close the review week in the positive region.

Though they had noted a possibility of profit-taking as seen in oil and gas and insurance stocks that gained during the past weeks, especially on bellwether stocks, the analysts however maintained that the positive factors would be dominant as show in the record gain of circa N700billion in the review week.