The Nigerian stock market ended August on a mildly positive note, posting a 0.31% gain despite late selloffs in some heavyweight stocks.
Tracked by the All-Share Index, the market opened at 139,863.5 points and gained over 5,000 in the first two weeks, climbing past 146,000 on the back of July’s strong momentum.
That early rally, however, gave way to weaker sentiment in the third week as oil and gas majors and some mid-cap stocks slipped, setting the stage for deeper losses.
By the fourth week, losses in big cement and other large caps dragged the index down over 3,500 points. With a further 708 points lost in the final week, much of August’s early gains were erased.
Despite the market’s muted close, several penny and mid-cap stocks, mainly in the insurance sector and a few from other industries, posted strong gains.
Although their performance could not fully offset the declines caused by select heavyweights, they still delivered impressive returns for investors who held them.
Here are August’s top performers.
Ellah Lakes Plc takes the 10th spot with a month-to-date return of 53.09%. The stock began August trading at N9.21 per share and surged to a record high of N17.65 on the 13th, its strongest closing level to date.
However, the rally quickly gave way to a pullback, with the following session opening a slide that stretched to the end of the month. Even so, trading remained active, with over 440 million shares changing hands in August.
Mid-month, the company’s CEO unveiled plans to expand its oil palm plantations by 1,500 hectares, while allocating 100 hectares to animal husbandry, a strategic move that likely caught investors’ attention.
Ellah Lakes had already stunned the market in June with a 135% return, its best month ever, and August, now its second-best month, pushed its year-to-date performance to over 346%.
