The Nigerian inventory market closed August on a mildly constructive observe, posting a 0.31% achieve regardless of renewed bearish stress later within the month.
Tracked by the All-Share Index, the market opened August at 139,863.5 factors and closed at 140,295.5 factors, recording a complete achieve of 432.0 factors.
Momentum from July, its strongest month thus far this 12 months, was carried into the primary half of August, pushing the index firmly into the inexperienced and driving it to highs above 146,000 factors, up greater than 5,000 factors in simply two weeks.
By the ultimate buying and selling week, which ended on August twenty ninth, the index shed one other 708 factors, trimming a lot of the sooner rally.
Nonetheless, due to robust early features, the market managed to eke out a modest 0.31% advance for the month.
A more in-depth have a look at sector efficiency reveals a clearer story, proven by the motion of particular person sector indices.
The Nigerian insurance coverage sector, tracked by the NGX Insurance coverage Index, delivered a formidable 44% achieve in August, beginning at 890.9 factors and shutting at 1,283.6 factors, with a buying and selling quantity of 11.6 billion shares.
At one level within the month, the sector was on monitor for a surprising 90% month-to-date achieve, however a bearish swing that started on August 14th pared again a lot of that momentum.
Even so, the sector’s efficiency remained excellent. AIICO Insurance coverage surged by greater than 90%, whereas GUINEA Insurance coverage, Linkage Assurance, Veritas Kapital, Coronation Insurance coverage, Status Assurance, Regency Alliance, and Common Insurance coverage all posted features above 50%.
One other six insurance coverage shares gained between 10% and 40%, with Lasaco Assurance recording the smallest rise at 5.63%.
Remarkably, each single inventory within the sector closed the month within the inexperienced, however because of the mid to small measurement of shares on this sector, the spectacular achieve was overshadowed by losses in different sectors with heavyweights.
In August, the NGX Shopper Items Index superior by 8.91%, decrease than July’s double-digit rise of over 11%. It moved from 2,929.4 factors to three,190.5 factors, with a market quantity of 972 million shares.
Features had been pushed largely by heavyweight BUA Meals, which soared greater than 28%, and Champion Breweries, up over 24%. Guinness and Vitafoam added lower than 12%, whereas McNichols recorded a modest 2.7% enhance.
The NGX Industrial Index closed August with a modest achieve of 1.83%, making it the third best-performing sector.
The index opened at 4,885.2 factors and began the month strongly, climbing to five,681.4 in early August, up greater than 16%. Nonetheless, a decline that started on the seventh and persevered all through the month erased a lot of those features, leaving the index with solely a slim revenue by month-end.
Sturdy advances of over 20% in TrippleG, Beta Glass, and Austin Laz weren’t sufficient to carry the index considerably, as a 1.53% drop in Dangote Cement (accounting for greater than 43% of the index) and a 12.8% slide in Lafarge weighed closely on total efficiency.
