NGX Rebounds On Strong Corporate Earnings Amidst Policy Shifts, Positive Sentiment

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Nigeria’s equity market recorded a bullish momentum of three trading sessions of up market and one down day, closing the week on a positive outing in the midst of low traded volume and expanded market breadth. Recall that the Federal Government declared Friday, April 18, and Monday, April 21, 2025, public holidays to mark the Easter festivities, which shortened the week’s trading sessions. The market halted three consecutive weeks of pullbacks that created buying opportunities in the face of impressive quarterly earnings reports from consumer goods, financial services, industrial goods and services industry. These outstanding numbers triggered position taking ahead of more Q1 results and unaudited accounts for march financial year end. The daily time frame signalled a strong market ahead of the weekly and monthly charts, even as month-to-date performance turned positive after gaining 0.09%.

NGXASI Daily Chart

The NGX All-Share index on the daily time revealed strength in the market as the trend up had a zero cross up with MACD crossing the signal line April 23 on momentum, just as MFI reads 52.23 to indicate that funds are returning to the equity space.

NGXASI Weekly Chart

Trading commenced for the week on a positive note and was sustained till Thursday before becoming bearish on the last trading day, losing 0.30% on that day alone. Despite this, however, the market still managed to close the week bullish,after gaining 1.46%, following which the All-Share Index year-to-date inched up to 2.75% from 1.30% recorded in the previous week. At the same time, market capitalisation for the week settled at N66.465tr, while the benchmark NGX All-Share Index stood at 105,752.61 basis points after breaking out the 106,000 psychological line to test 106,103.01points.

The NGX-30 rose by 2.70%, behind the Banking Index’s 4.15%, while the Pension index increased by 8.23%, all of which were far behind the Consumer Goods Index’s 14.82% leap, just as the Insurance Index shed 6.73%, which was better than the Oil and Gas Index which lost 10.73%. In terms of market breadth, 64 stocks advanced, while 27 declined.

International Breweries Weekly Chart

Leading the top gainers chart was International Breweries, a subsidiary of AB InBev, one of the world’s largest brewing conglomerates, and prominent player in Nigeria’s beverage sector which rose from N5.50 to N7.70, a 40% rise. NASCON, a member of the Dangote Group followed, as its share price jumped from N41.95 to N52.95, a 26.22% growth. Africa Prudential gained 25.64%, rising from N13.65 to N17.15; Vitafoam’s share price increased from N37.00 to N44.85, up 21.22%, while Ikeja Hotel advanced from N10.00 to N12.10, a gain of 21%.

VFD Group Weekly Chart

On the decliners chart, VFD Group a proprietary investment company. It operates as a diversified financial services group, suffered the highest loss, plunging by 82.19% from N96.00 to N17.10 each. John Holt declined from N7.74 to N6.30, down by 18.60% per share. Dangote Cement shed by 10%, from N480.00 to N432.00; Tripple Gee fell from N2.20 to N1.98, a 10% decrease; while Haldane McCall dipped 9.96%, from N5.22 to N4.70.

Trending in the Economy: Nigeria’s manufacturing output jumped 34.9% to N33.43tr in H2 2024, mostly due to inflation, while real growth was limited to 1.7% by high costs and weak demand. Capacity use rose slightly to 57%, local sourcing improved, but investments dropped 35.3% amid soaring energy and borrowing costs. Unsold goods initially spiked but later fell. MAN called for stable policies, lower interest rates, and better forex access.

In Q1 2025, Nigeria’s FX inflows climbed 18.68% to $28.92 billion, with net inflows at $15.20 billion despite rising outflows. Reforms like naira unification lifted monthly FX turnover to $8.1 billion. The CBN’s market share fell to 2%, signaling a shift to a more open market. February recorded the highest inflows at $6.92 billion, while March remained steady.

Global Market and Oil: U.S. stocks ended higher Friday, led by strong tech shares. Alphabet rose 1.7% after beating earnings and affirming AI investment plans, lifting the S&P 500 tech, consumer discretionary, and communication sectors by over 1% each. The Dow Jones gained 20.10 points (0.05%) to close at 40,113.50, the S&P 500 rose 40.44 points (0.74%) to 5,525.21, and the Nasdaq climbed 216.90 points (1.26%) to 17,382.94.

Markets found relief amid conflicting signals on U.S.-China trade talks, with President Trump suggesting negotiations were ongoing, though China denied it. Investors cautiously hoped the worst of the tariff threats might not materialize.

Oil prices edged up Friday but posted weekly losses. Brent crude settled at $66.87 per barrel (down 1.6% for the week), while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) closed at $63.02 per barrel (down 2.6%). The dollar posted its first weekly gain since mid-March, while gold fell 1.7% to $3,292.99 an ounce. Treasury yields slipped as investors weighed potential Fed rate cuts. As attention now turns to earnings reports from Apple, Microsoft and others next week.

NGX Sectorial Indexes Chart Position at the end of the week under review:

NGX Banking Index Weekly Chart