Santa Claus Rally Continues as Investors Gain N847 Billion in Second Trading Session

Yesterday's domestic stock at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NGX) sustained the second trading session of the year with a gain of N847 billion as investors bargained for United Bank for Africa (UBA) and 77 other equities, placing market performance on a positive trend.

With the second success of trading for 2024 at the NGX, investors have gained N1.512 trillion as investors gained N666 billion at the close of Tuesday trading session.

The All-Share Index increased by 3.70% in two trading days from 74,773.77 points, which it opened for the year, to close yesterday at 77,537.57 points. 

Market capitalization increased by N1.512 trillion to close on January 3, 2024, at N42.430 trillion from N40.918 trillion, which opened trading for the year.

Analysts said that the stock market, which opened the year on a positive side, would extend last year's bullish and Santa Claus rally into the New Year and ahead of the unaudited fourth quarter (Q4) financials of listed companies and the first Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting for the year.

Afrinvest Limited stated, "Tomorrow, we anticipate an extended rally on the bourse, as investors continue to bet on favourable equities outlook for the year."

A review of yesterday's trading session showed that the positive trend could be attributed to medium and large capitalized stocks: Presco, Conoil, BUA Foods, Stanbic IBTC Holding, and FBN Holdings (FBNH).

As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive, as 72 stocks gained relatively while seven equities lost.

Top Gainers: Berger Paints, Dangote Sugar Refinery, Cornerstone Insurance, Custodian Investment, FCMB Group, Ikeja Hotels, Morison Industries, NASCON Allied Industries, United Bank for Africa (UBA), University Press and Infinity Trust Mortgage Bank recorded the highest price gain of 10% each to close at N14.30, N63.25, N1.65, N9.90, N8.25, N7.26, N3.08, 59.40, N28.60, N2.64 and N7.26 respectively, per share.

Also, Transcorp Hotel and Multiverse Mining and Exploration followed with a gain of 9.99% each to close at N77.19 and N22.46, respectively. Transnational Corporations (Transcorp) and Access Holdings rose by 9.98% each to close at N10.47 and N25.90 in that order per share.

Top Losers: Learn Africa led the losers' chart by 9.09% to close at N2.90 per share. Champion Breweries followed with a decline of 7.32% to close at N3.80, while C&I Leasing fell by 2.33% to close at N5.03 per share.

Nigerian Exchange Group depreciated by 1.70% to close at N23.10, while Ellah Lakes declined by 1.64% to close at N3.00 per share.

The total volume traded rose by 79.83% to 927.558 million units, valued at N10.691 billion, and exchanged in 11,629 deals.