Ruth Ibikunle
The stock market last week closed on a positive note with 0.66% growth. Year to date, the market has returned 2.66% with the All Share Index and Market Capitalisation at 105,660.64 points and N66.257 trillion respectively.
In a stock market review with the MD/CEO of GlobalView Capital Limited, Aruna Kebira, the following were discussed:
Excerpts:
• The stock market last week closed on a positive note with 0.66% growth. What is the outlook for the new month?
The market expectedly, is presently awash with the release of Q4 2024 AFS. To avoid paying penalties for delays, we saw an avalanche of it over the weekend as issuers rushed to meet the deadline of March 31.
And we are witnessing mixed yields in the dividends declared by the firms. The market is undergoing an analysis to determine which of the yields measured up to 10% or not.
But if you ask me, the dividend we have on board at this time should be viewed in absolute terms as prices have risen far above where they were in 2024.
So, fixating on the yield may not be a better way of judging which stock pays out the best dividend.
We saw in 2025 as the stocks began to create new 52-week high prices.
Be that as it may, a lot of discerning investors will continue to put their resources in areas where they think their breads are better buttered. The actions will create buying activiti8es that will lift the index up.
At the end of the week, I expect the index to close in the green zone.
• What is driving the growth in Mutual Benefit Assurance and Sunu Assurance?
Trading in Mutual Benefit Assurance was put on suspension by the NGX on July 5, 2024, because of its non-rendition of quarterly and annual reports to the regulator. These were the post-listing requirements Mbenefits subscribed to during the listing of its shares on the exchange.
Having met the conditions that warrant the exchange to lift the suspension on the trading of the shares of the company, the NGX lifted it on March 21, 2025.
The company has missed out on the bull run and the price rally in the market since July 2024.
Expectedly, the market believes that the price of about N0.54 where the suspension was lifted was the price of 2024 and therefore considered it cheap.
The market as a fair judge of the worth of stocks is moving to reprice the price of the stock in order to compensate it for the lost time of almost eight months of absence in the market.
• How attractive is GTCO at N68.80?
GTCO has tried to be in the forefront of performance in the banking sector over the years. There have been a lot of controversies amongst investors about why the stock continually stayed ahead of its peers. But from quarter to quarter, this bank has continued to prove and provide an answer to those questions.
Paying a whopping N7.03 as its final dividend for the FYE 2024, it has once more proven its leadership abilities in the sector.
Even with the price at which the stock is trading, GTCO has successfully returned a dividend yield in excess of 10%.
When the stock was trading at N50.00, there were indications that the price was too high.
I can tell you categorically, that there in no height in price a stock can rise that is too high. The only snag would be that the stock would continue to generate commensurate earnings to justify that price and perhaps push it further, just like we are seeing in the performance of GTCO and the ascent of its price.
• Why is AFRIPRUD trending down? Is it a good buy at N13.05?
The rumours of a possible bonus in Afripud filtered into the market when the stock was trading at N9.00+. The effect of that information took the stock to as high as N36.30.
True to the rumour, the company declared a bonus of 1:1 and a dividend of N0.60.
On the marked down date, having being marked down from a price of N33.00, the marked-down price was at N16.20.
Most investors believed that they have successfully sucked out the juice in the stock and are moving their resources to other positions where they believe value is.
The move to put that through is what is responsible for the decline in the price of the stock.
• What are the stocks to watch?
Ecobank, Japaul Gold, Ellah Lakes, Tantalizers, Dangote Sugar, Nascon, FCMB, and a host of other