The index has returned 31.9 per cent since the start of the year.
Nigerian stocks stretched their run of gains into the tenth trading day in a row on Wednesday as investors piled more funds into shares and buy pressure drove the main stock index beyond the 100,000 basis points mark to its peak level ever.
The all-share index touched a new high of 101,571.1 points, after adding 3 per cent according to Nigerian Exchange data, less than a week after the country's equity market displaced Argentina's to become the world's best-performing bourse. That puts the overall return on the Nigerian equity market in the last 52 weeks at 93.1 per cent.
Stocks are up to a great start in Africa's largest economy this year as the central bank warms up to join the push by the Nigerian Government to attain a $1 trillion economy by 2030, having announced late last year that lenders will be obliged to raise their capital levels to back the plan.
The move is generating much interest in bank stocks, with the NGX Banking Index being a major driver of the strong performance of the Nigerian stock market in the past few weeks.
Negative real yields on fixed-income securities as a result of high inflation are also forcing investors to recoup their investment in such assets and channel it into stocks.
"In January 2024, we expect the Bulls to prevail, as bargain hunting continues as the order of the day," said analysts at United Capital in this week's outlook note to investors.
"Given the global developments across major central banks in advanced economies, high base expectations for inflation, and improved economic growth prospects, we expect the local bourse to record a positive performance this new week."
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The index has returned 31.9 per cent since the start of the year.
TOP FIVE GAINERS
Wapic Insurance appreciated by 10 per cent to close at N0.88. BUA Cement enlarged by 9.98 per cent to end trade at N179.65. Japaul rose to N2.55, notching up 9.98 per cent in the process. University Press Limited went up by 9.82 per cent to N3.69. Tripple Gee completed the top 5, climbing by 9.69 per cent to N2.83.
TOP FIVE LOSERS
NEM led losers, declining by 7.2 per cent to close at N10. Cadbury shed 9.96 per cent to end trade at N23.50. The Initiates fell to N2.27, losing 9.92 per cent. May & Baker slumped to N6.65, recording 9.89 per cent depreciation. McNichols closed at N1.46, going down by 9.88 per cent.
TOP FIVE TRADES
Altogether, 488.5 million shares estimated at N8 billion were traded in 12,080 deals.
Transcorp was the most active stock with 95.1 million of its shares worth N1.6 billion traded in 1,207 deals. Universal Insurance's shares of 45.6 million units, priced at N18.6 million, exchanged hands in 168 transactions. Unity Bank had 27.3 million shares valued at N74.1 million traded in 223 deals. Jaiz Bank traded 27 million shares estimated at N76.9 million in 432 transactions. Japaul Gold traded 25.3 million shares valued at N64.3 million in 239 deals.
