At the close of Wednesday’s trading session, equities trading on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) ended on a bullish note, as the All-Share Index (ASI) rose by 0.27 per cent to 109,059.33 basis points.
The domestic bourse extended its bullish momentum as buying interest in Oando and Stanbic Holdings drove the ASI higher, with share values appreciating by 8.1 per cent and 5.4 per cent, respectively.
Market capitalisation also advanced, gaining ₦185.9 billion to settle at ₦68.54 trillion, reflecting renewed investor confidence.
Accordingly, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns improved to +3.1 per cent and +5.96 per cent, respectively.
Sectoral performance was largely positive: Consumer Goods led with a 1.25 per cent gain, followed by Oil & Gas, Banking, Insurance, and Industrial Goods, which recorded respective appreciations of 0.75 per cent, 0.58 per cent, 0.19 per cent, and 0.01 per cent, while the Commodity sector remained flat.
Market breadth was strong, with 34 gainers outpacing 25 losers, underscoring bullish sentiment. On the performance board, McNichols and Northern Nigeria Flour Mills topped the gainers’ chart with 10.00 per cent increases, followed by Champion Breweries, Caverton Offshore Support Group, and FTN Cocoa Processors, which saw share values rise by 9.91 per cent, 9.78 per cent, and 9.65 per cent, respectively.
On the flip side, Multiverse Mining and Exploration, Legend Internet, and Veritas Capital led the declines, with respective share price dips of 9.63 per cent, 5.41 per cent, and 4.76 per cent.
Trading activity gathered pace, with total volume and value rising by 6.58 per cent and 83.72 per cent, respectively, although the deal count dipped slightly by 0.31 per cent.
Overall, 531.29 million shares worth ₦19.81 billion were exchanged in 14,870 deals.
Guaranty Trust Holding Company was the most traded stock by volume, as investors traded 53.3 million units of shares. Access Holdings followed with 51.9 million units, while Fidelity recorded 40.6 million traded shares.
In terms of value, MTN Nigeria Communications was the most traded stock, with transactions worth ₦5.59 billion.
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