The Nigerian equities market sustained its upward momentum last week, with bullish sentiment dominating trading despite cautious profit-taking and mixed investor reactions to the continued release of H1 bank earnings.
The NGX All-Share Index advanced by 0.20% week-on-week to close at 142,133.02 points, while market capitalization rose by 0.24% to N89.96 trillion, delivering fresh investor gains of N216 billion.
This performance underscores the resilience of the market, which has remained firmly positive despite macroeconomic headwinds.
The year-to-date return strengthened further to 38.09%, reflecting investor confidence underpinned by improved liquidity in the FX market, rising oil prices, and optimism around Q3 corporate earnings season beginning next month.
Portfolio rebalancing also continued in earnest, supported by the Monetary Policy Committee’s recent 50bps cut in the MPR to 27.00% and Nigeria’s stronger-than-expected Q2 GDP growth of 4.23%.
That said, market breadth leaned negative at 0.64x, as 32 gainers were offset by 50 losers, signalling a cautious undertone.
However, activity levels painted a more upbeat picture as total trading volume surged by 180.84% to 7.68 billion units, while traded value skyrocketed 479.51% to N494.2 billion, even though total deals dipped by 8.34% to 116,711.
This suggests increased participation from institutional investors repositioning ahead of Q3 earnings and quarter-end portfolio adjustments.
Sectoral performance was uneven. The NGX Industrial Goods Index emerged strongest, advancing 1.33%, followed by Banking (+1.19%) and Consumer Goods (+1.15%), all buoyed by renewed interest in fundamentally strong counters.
On the flip side, the Insurance (-0.91%), Oil & Gas (-1.62%), and Commodities (-0.91%) indices closed lower, weighed down by bouts of profit-taking and cautious repositioning.
At the individual stock level, THOMASWY Nigeria stole the spotlight with a 22.7% rally, trailed by NSLTECH (+21.3%), MECURE (+20.8%), CHELLARAM (+11.3%), and ROYALEX (+10.3%).
Conversely, WEMA BANK led the laggards, slumping 12.4% week-on-week, alongside FIDELITY BANK (-11.1%), ETERNA (-10.0%), IKEJA HOTEL (-9.8%), and AFRIPRUD (-9.1%).
Looking into next week, the equities market is expected to retain a cautiously bullish tone, supported by attractive valuations, improving FX liquidity, and firmer oil prices, all of which should provide additional buffers for investor sentiment.
The upcoming Q3 earnings season is set to play a decisive role, particularly in banking and consumer names, with expectations of stronger results helping to sustain momentum.
Nonetheless, weak market breadth and persistent profit-taking may keep sentiment selective, ensuring that fundamentally strong stocks remain the most attractive plays in the near term
