Global Markets
For the third consecutive month this year, the MSCI World Index sustained its bullish trend, growing by 3.0% MoM following the 2.1% and 4.1% MoM gains recorded in January and February, respectively. This performance was buoyed by positive investor interest in top tickers such as NVIDIA (+14.2%) and ALPHABET (+17.9%) as the AI drive continued to garner momentum. Similarly, the MSCI Emerging Markets and MSCI Frontier Markets indices also recorded gains of 2.2% and 3.7% MoM, respectively.
Nigerian Equities
In March, the Nigerian equities market rebounded as the benchmark index advanced by 4.6% to settle at 104,562.06 points, while the market capitalisation added N4.4 trillion (+8.07%) to close at N59.1 trillion. Accordingly, YTD return printed at 39.8% as of March 2024. The market rebound was primarily driven by the resurgence of banking tickers, buoyed by positioning for dividend announcements and the gradual return of FPIs into the market. Specifically, the tier-1 banks benefitted the most, all recording double-digit returns – GTCO (+32.58%), ACCESSCORP (+27.94%), FBNH (+27.42%), ZENITHBANK (+27.14%), and UBA (+24.17%).
