By Adeyemi David
The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) opened the week on a bullish note, with market capitalisation rising by N5.1 trillion to reflect a 4.36 percent gain at the close of trading on Monday.
The surge was largely driven by heightened investor interest in high-capitalised equities, including ABC Transport, Beta Glass, Ikeja Hotel, Oando and McNichols Plc, alongside 52 other stocks.
Market capitalisation, which stood at N117.027 trillion at the previous close, climbed sharply during the session, while the All-Share Index advanced by 7,953.36 points, or 4.36 percent, to settle at 190,266.44 compared to 182,313.08 recorded on Friday.
Market breadth closed positive with 57 gainers against 27 losers, underscoring broad-based buying pressure across sectors.
Beta Glass, Oando, Ikeja Hotel, McNichols and ABC Transport topped the gainers’ chart with the maximum 10 percent appreciation, closing at N453.20, N44, N41.80, N8.47 and N8.25 per share respectively.
On the losers’ table, RT Briscoe led with a 9.99 percent decline to close at N15.68. Deap Capital Management fell by 9.91 percent to N7.64, while Caverton Offshore Support Group shed 9.62 percent to end at N7.05 per share.
Similarly, Guinea Insurance dipped by 9.27 percent to N1.37, and Tantalizers dropped 8.11 percent to close at N5.10 per share.
Trading activity strengthened notably, with a total of 1.1 billion shares valued at N64 billion exchanged in 64,821 deals.
This represents an increase from the 936.4 million shares worth N52.7 billion traded in 50,068 transactions in the previous session.
Access Holdings recorded the highest trading volume with 86.7 million shares changing hands.
Commenting on the rally, David Adonri, Vice President of Highcap Securities, described the surge as one of the most significant market advances recorded this year.
“We witnessed a very big rally today, perhaps the biggest since the beginning of the year.
The Oil and Gas Index appreciated by over four percent, and most of the stocks that led the gainers’ chart were highly capitalised equities. It was truly a day of massive rally in the market,” he said.
Adonri noted that the immediate trigger for the rally was unclear, as there were no new listings to justify the sharp rise.
He suggested that external geopolitical developments, particularly tensions involving the United States and Iran, as well as concerns about possible disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz may have boosted investor sentiment.
According to him, such tensions could drive crude oil prices higher, prompting investors to take early positions in anticipation of potential gains.
He added that recent inflation data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, which showed an increase to about 15 percent from roughly 14 percent in December, was unlikely to have triggered the rally.
“Given the inflation spike, we can reasonably rule that out as a catalyst. The most plausible explanation appears to be external factors,” Adonri said.
