The Nigerian equities market reopened in an upbeat yesterday, as investors jostled for dividend-paying stocks to reposition for the 2023 earning season, causing market capitalisation to appreciate further by N1.24 trillion.

The upturn was impacted by gains recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are Dangote Cement, BUA Cement, Berger Paints, Oando and Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO).

On will shape the market in the next trading session, analysts at Vetiva Dealings and Brokerage said: “Following the unimpressive numbers released so far in the consumer goods sector, we have seen a number of those counters close in the red and we expected similar bearish sentiment in that space tomorrow.”

United Capital Plc said: “We expect positive investors’ sentiments to dominate the local equities market as the full-year earning season comes to full swing.

“This will essentially be subject to the financial performance of firms last year. We strongly anticipate impressive outings among banks given the impact of the Foreign Exchange FX) revaluation gains and elevated interest rate environment in 2023.
“Thus, we expect an increased appetite among investors for corporates in the financial services sector, particularly the banks.”

However, as measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative, as 24 stocks gained relative to 38 losers. Oando recorded the highest price gain of 9.96 per cent to close at N13.80 kobo.

Dangote Cement followed with a gain of 9.93 per cent to close at N763 while Tripple Gee and company rose by 9.89 per cent to close at N3.11 kobo.

Berger Paints was up by 9.81 per cent to close at N17.35 kobo while Royal Exchange appreciated by 8.97 per cent to close at 85 kobo.

On the other hand, DAAR Communications and Ikeja Hotels led the losers’ chart by 10 per cent each to close at 81 kobo and N6.75 kobo respectively, while Cadbury Nigeria followed with a decline of 9.80 per cent to close at N20.70 kobo.

NPF Microfinance Bank depreciated by 8.88 per cent to close at N1.95, while Ellah Lakes declined by 8.48 per cent to close at N3.02 kobo.

The total volume traded rose by 32.84 per cent to 689.928 million units, valued at N25.938 billion, and exchanged in 15,887 deals. Transactions in the shares of Japaul Gold & Ventures topped the activity chart with 83.865 million shares valued at N269.573 million. Transnational Corporations (Transcorp) followed with 42.804 million shares worth N690.449 million, while Zenith Bank traded 34.541 million shares valued at N1.462 billion.