Reuters Images/Akintunde Akinleye.
Lagos — Nigerian stocks extended gains for the fifth session on Monday, led by banks to push the main index past a psychological threshold of 80,000 points for the first time ever, LSEG data showed.
The All Share Index (.NGSEINDEX) closed 0.83% up at a record 80,328.58 points.
Stocks have leapt 6.5% in early 2024 trading, extending last year’s gains of 45.90%, as local funds pile back into equities.
The index of Nigeria’s top 10 banks (.NGSEBNK10) climbed 2.23% on the day to lead the charge on the bourse.
Nigerian equities started to rally at the end of last May, when new President Bola Tinubu launched reforms of the country’s foreign exchange market and scrapped a costly but popular fuel subsidy that had sucked up government finances.
*Chijioke Ohuocha; editing: MacDonald Dzirutwe & Emelia Sithole-Matarise – Reuters
