The Nigerian stock market extended its bullish momentum last week, with investors recording a total gain of over N3.4 trillion, despite the shortened trading week due to a public holiday held in honour of the late former President Muhammadu Buhari.

Market capitalisation rose significantly to N83.241 trillion, up from N79.803 trillion the previous week, reflecting renewed investor confidence. Likewise, the NGX All-Share Index (ASI) advanced by 4.3%, closing at 131,585.66 points, compared to 126,149.59 points the week before.

This positive performance was largely driven by strong price appreciation in key Industrial Goods stocks. Dangote Cement led the rally with a 16.47% week-on-week (WoW) gain, followed closely by BUA Cement, which surged by 31.28%. Other notable gainers included Stanbic IBTC (18.38%) and Nestlé Nigeria (20.00%). As a result, the year-to-date (YtD) return improved to 27.84%.

During the week, a total of 17.498 billion shares valued at N500.762 billion were traded across 142,082 deals on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX), marking a substantial increase from the previous week’s 5.390 billion shares worth N107.811 billion in 134,390 deals.

The Financial Services sector dominated trading activity, accounting for 15.771 billion shares worth N437.763 billion in 66,725 deals. This represented 90.13% and 87.42% of the total trading volume and value, respectively. Market analysts attributed this sharp increase to bulk trades involving shares owned by former FirstHoldco Plc Chairman, Oba Otudeko, and former First Bank Chairman, Tunde Hassan-Odukale.

A similarly large transaction was recorded in Fidelity Bank shares, involving over one billion units, though details surrounding the deal are yet to be disclosed.

In terms of sectoral activity, the ICT sector followed with 325.134 million shares worth N3.492 billion in 9,028 deals, while the Consumer Goods sector placed third, with 313.424 million shares valued at N20.162 billion in 14,917 deals.

The top three equities by volume — FirstHoldco Plc, FCMB Group Plc, and Fidelity Bank Plc — collectively accounted for 13.229 billion shares valued at N367.498 billion across 10,083 deals, representing 75.60% of total volume and 73.39% of total value traded.

While most sectoral indices closed higher, declines were recorded in the NGX Insurance (-3.65%), NGX ASeM (-9.56%), NGX Oil & Gas (-0.76%), NGX Growth (-4.80%), and NGX Sovereign Bond (-0.57%) indices.

Looking ahead, analysts at Cordros Capital noted that investor sentiment in the coming week will likely be influenced by the outcome of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting, as market participants assess its potential impact on yields and equity valuations.