The Nigerian equities market extended its winning streak on Tuesday, as sustained investor interest in bellwether stocks lifted the benchmark index further into positive territory.
The NGX All-Share Index (ASI) advanced by 0.12 percent to close at 144,995.26 points, pushing the year-to-date return to 40.87 percent. In tandem, market capitalisation rose by N109 billion to settle at N92.03 trillion, reflecting improved confidence ahead of the third-quarter earnings season.
The day’s rally was driven largely by gains in MTN Nigeria with 2.27 percent appreciation, Dangote Cement went up by 0.93 percent, Lafarge Africa by 1.98 percent, and Transcorp by 1.02 percent.
Market breadth closed positive at 1.12 times, indicating stronger bullish sentiment, as 38 gainers outpaced 34 losers. On the performance board, Cornerstone Insurance increased by 9.92 percent, Consolidated Hallmark added 9.88 percent, and Cham hinged 9.26 percent topping the gainers’ chart, while Living Trust went down by 10.00 percent, Austin Laz dipped by 9.72 percent, and Juli went down 9.52 percent to lead the decliners.
Sectoral performance was broadly mixed, with advances in Insurance up 1.98 percent, Industrial Goods up 0.69 percent, and Consumer Goods up 0.26 percent sectors countering declines in Banking down 1.33 percent and Oil and Gas down 0.87 percent indices.
Despite the upbeat sentiment, trading activity remained subdued, as total volume and number of deals dipped by 2.41 percent and 13.55 percent, respectively. Nonetheless, market value surged by 66.96 percent to N24.29 billion, buoyed by high-value transactions in energy and telecoms stocks. A total of 507.41 million shares were traded across 30,681 deals.
Access Holdings led the activity chart by volume with 45.86 million units, while Aradel Holdings dominated the value chart with trades worth N13.16 billion.