Nigeria’s stock market toppled Argentina’s stock to emerge as the world’s best market on Wednesday.
The development comes as the Nigerian Exchange Limited continues its bullish run on Wednesday as the All-Share Index appreciated by 2.38 per cent to close to reaching a historic 90,063.25 points from Tuesday’s 87,970.37 points.
From January 15 and 17 2024, the NGX gained a whopping 8.45 percent. Year-to-date, the market has appreciated by 20.45 per cent, making it the fastest-growing equities market in the world, ahead of the Argentine Stock Market.
However, in the ASI, there was no overall change in the equities market cap, as it stayed at N48.139 trillion, the same as the figure quoted on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, there was a 21.65 per cent increase in trading volume to 1.298 billion units from yesterday’s 1.067 billion units. There was a slight 3.9% increase in trading value to N16.38 billion from Tuesday’s N15.77 billion.
A further analysis showed that the top gainers are GUINNESS, +10.00 per cent to close at N71.50, WEMABANK,+10.00 per cent to close at N11.66, HONYFLOUR, +10.00 per cent to close at N4.84, SUNUASSUR, +10.00 per cent to close at N1.76, AIICO, +10.00 per cent to close at N1.54 and BUACEMENT, +9.99 per cent to close at N123.90.
Conversely, top Losers are RTBRISCOE, -10.00 per cent to close at N0.81, DANGSUGAR, -9.95 per cent to close at N73.30, NGXGROUP: -9.84 per cent to close at N22.90, REDSTAREX: -9.47 per cent to close at N4.11, STERLINGNG, -9.09 per cent to close at N6.90 and DAARCOMM, -8.33 per cent to close at N0.99.
In terms of volume, STERLINGNG (-9.09 per cent) led with 106.14 million units, followed by JAPAULGOLD (+8.94 per cent) with 101.12 million units, TRANSCORP (+9.97 per cent) with 90.47 million units, JAIZBANK (+1.37 per cent) with 83.12 million units, and UNITYBNK (+0.67 per cent) with 73.41 million units.
Concerning value, NB (+1.82 per cent) led with N2.02 billion, followed by TRANSCORP (+9.97 per cent) with N1.58 billion, ZENITHBANK (-1.42 per cent) with N1.10 billion, ACCESSCORP (-0.67 per cent) with N935.86 million, and STERLINGNG (-9.09 per cent) with N800.26 million.
SWOOT and FUGAZ updates showed that trading sentiment was mixed for stocks worth over N1 trillion, as BUACEMENT (+9.99%), BUAFOODS (+5.49 per cent), DANGCEM (+9.86 per cent), and GEREGU (+9.49 per cent) recorded price gains.
This comes as stocks like ACCESSCORP (-0.67 per cent), GTCO (-1.80 per cent), ZENITHBANK (-1.42 per cent), and UBA (-4.27 per cent) recorded price losses. Meanwhile, AIRTELAFRI, MTNN, SEPLAT, and TRANSCOHOT (Transcorp Hotels) recorded no price changes.
FBNH recorded a 5.79 per cent decline to fall below the N1 trillion market cap level again.
A dramatic event that played out in the market today was the ascension of Dangote Sugar into the SWOOT territory. However, by the close of trading, the stock fell by 9.95 per cent, dropping to a market capitalization of N890 billion.
