By Favour Akinmola
The Nigerian equities market reopened trading for the week on a positive note, yesterday, as market capitalisation gained N84 billion, occasioned by renewed bargain-hunting in Aradel Holdings Plc and 23 other stocks.
At the close of transactions, the all-share index (ASI) gained 137.75 points, representing a gain of 0.14 per cent to close at 97,373.94 points.
Also, market capitalisation rose by N84 billion to close at N59 trillion.
The upturn was driven by price appreciation in large and medium-capitalised stocks amongst which are: Aradel Holdings, Flour Mills of Nigeria, Custodian Investment, Eunisell Interlinked and John Holt.
Reacting to market performance, analysts at United Capital Plc said: “The equities market is expected to retain its buy interest as investors cherry-picked undervalued stocks. However, given the high interest rates in the fixed-income and money markets, we expect some bearish undertone to persist in the equities market as fixed-income-biased investors take advantage of the high yields in the fixed-income space.
“Nevertheless, the bulls will remain incentivised to persist in bargain hunting, given the tremendous mid-long-term opportunities in the equities market.”
However, market breadth closed negative, as 24 stocks gained relative to 27 losers. Eunisell Interlinked emerged the highest price gainer of 10 per cent to close at N9.02 kobo while Aradel Holdings followed with a gain of 9.99 per cent to close at N533.80 kobo, while John Holt up by 9.98 per cent to close at N5.29 kobo.
Deap Capital Management and Trust rose by 9.35 per cent to close at N1.17, while Custodian Investment appreciated by 8.62 per cent to close at N12.60 kobo.
On the other side, United Capital led others on the losers’ chart with 9.78 per cent to close at N16.15 kobo. Sovereign Trust Insurance followed with a decline of 7.25 per cent to close at 64 kobo, while Prestige Assurance declined by 6.67 per cent to close at 56 kobo.
Consolidated Hallmark Holdings lost 5.88 per cent to close at N1.60, while Tripple Gee & Company depreciated by 5.49 per cent to close at N1.72 kobo.
The total volume traded decreased by 37.82 per cent to 297.83 million units, valued at N7.518 billion, and exchanged in 9,902 deals.
Transactions in the shares of Sterling Financial Holdings Company led the activity with 36.132 million shares worth N180.861 million.
United Bank for Africa (UBA) followed with an account of 33.497 million shares valued at N1.041 billion, while Access Holdings traded 24.6 million shares valued at N590.09 million.
Flour Mills of Nigeria traded 15.03 million shares worth N977.29 million, while FBN Holdings (FBNH) traded 14.52 million shares worth N398.27 million.
Meanwhile, the NGX Invest’s strong track record in capital-raising support has earned recognition from key stakeholders as the platform facilitated approximately ₦1.26 trillion (about $770 million) in banking sector capital raises.
Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Emomotimi Agama, noted that banks using NGX Invest have consistently achieved full subscription, often reaching oversubscription.
Similarly, Group CEO of FCMB Group Plc, Ladi Balogun, applauded the NGX Group for enabling over 40,000 investors to easily participate in FCMB’s recent public offering via the NGX Invest platform.
Currently, FBN Holdings Plc’s N150 billion rights issue for a one-for-six basis to existing shareholders is live on NGX Invest. This digital channel provides eligible investors with streamlined access to the rights issue through NGX Invest.
At the ‘Facts Behind the Rights Issue’ event hosted by the Exchange, FBN Holdings Group Managing Director, Nnamdi Okonkwo, highlighted the strategic importance of the offering.
“We will leverage our diversified portfolio to ‘do more with less’ by optimising costs, boosting efficiency, and enhancing revenue.
“Our goal is to expand strategically into new regions through both physical and digital means while exploring valuable business adjacencies.”
“Okonkwo further praised NGX Invest for expanding the reach of their capital raise; it allows us to reach a wider investor base with ease.”
With FBN Holdings joining six other Nigerian banks that recently used NGX Invest for public offerings and rights issues, this move aligns with the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) new capital adequacy requirements, which mandate stronger capital bases by 2026.
Group CEO of NGX Group,Temi Popoola, said: “NGX Invest’s infrastructure has become the go-to choice for issuers distributing offerings digitally. We are proud to support financial institutions and other issuers in capital-raising efforts, helping them reach broader investor bases and drive economic growth.”
