Stock Market Gains N8.14trn on Buy Interest in MTN Nigeria, Dangote Cement

Kayode Tokede

The domestic stock market maintained its bullish trajectory last week, appreciated by N8.14trillion in its Week-on-Week (WoW) performance over strong buying interest in MTN Nigeria Communications Plc, Dangote Cement Plc, among others

Capital market analysts stated that investors on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) are positioned ahead of their December 2025 earnings releases due for this week, a critical factor driving the growth of some fundamental stocks.

As MTN Nigeria and Dangote Cement gained 10 per cent WoW each, the market capitalisation gained 6.95 per cent or N8.14 trillion to close the week at N125.164 trillion.

As a result, the NGX All-Share Index advanced by 6.95 per cent to 194,989.77 basis points, bringing the month-to-date and year-to-date returns to +17.9per cent and +25.3per cent, respectively.

Sectoral performance was broadly in line with the overall market sentiment, as the Industrial Goods (+10.1per cent), Oil & Gas (+8.7per cent), Consumer Goods (+6.1per cent), Banking (+5.7per cent) and Insurance (+4.7per cent) indices advanced.

Market breadth remained firmly positive, with 71 stocks recording gains against 41 decliners, signaling widespread buying momentum across counters.

Zichis Agro Allied Industries led the gainers table by 60.74 per cent to close at N17.36, per share. Japaul Gold & Ventures followed with a gain of 60.16 per cent to close at N14.90, while Infinity Trust Mortgage Bank went up by 59.09 per cent to close to N15.75, per share.

On the other side, R.T Briscoe led the decliners table by 20.78 per cent to close at N13.80, per share. MeCure Industries followed with a loss of 18.99 per cent to close at N84.25, while Tripple Gee and Company declined by 18.80 per cent to close at N5.40, per share.

Overall, a total turnover of 7.662 billion shares worth N252.566 billion in 345,118 deals was traded last week by investors on the floor of the Exchange, in contrast to a total of 4.652 billion shares valued at N193.326 billion that exchanged hands prior week in 286,751 deals.

The Financial Services Industry led the activity chart with 5.625 billion shares valued at N113.599 billion traded in 129,729 deals: contributing 73.41 per cent and 44.98 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

The Services Industry followed with 493.131 million shares worth N5.866 billion in 30,396 deals, while the Oil and Gas Industry pulled a turnover of 425.657 million shares worth N35.742 billion in 23,136 deals.

Trading in the top equities, namely FCMB Group, Access Holdings and Zenith Bank accounted for 3.594 billion shares worth N69.147 billion in 33,802 deals, contributing 46.90 per cent and 27.38 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

Meanwhile, capital market analysts have predicted that the Nigerian stock market is expected to remain broadly positive this week, driven by strong investor confidence and trading activity, but intermittent profit-taking could trigger mild pullbacks.

The market closed last week firmly in positive territory, extending its upward momentum as stronger investor confidence and heightened trading activity pushed prices higher.

This week, Cowry Assets Management Limited said, “market sentiment is expected to remain broadly positive, underpinned by strong investor confidence and heightened trading activity.

“However, following such a sharp weekly advancement, intermittent profit-taking could trigger mild pullbacks. Even so, the underlying tone remains bullish, with investors likely to become more selective and tilt toward fundamentally sound counters as the rally matures. We continue to advise investors to position in fundamentally sound stocks.”

Afrinvest Limited added that “this week, we expect the market dynamics to remain bullish in the absence of any negative triggers while we await the outcome of the MPC meeting.”

In addition,  analysts at Cordros Research said, the market sentiment would  likely be shaped by audited earnings releases and dividend declarations across key sectors including Cement, Telcos, Oil & Gas, and Consumer Goods.

“Market participants will also monitor the CBN’s MPC meeting, where we expect the CBN to reduce the policy rate by 50bps to 26.5per cent, ” they added.