The Nigerian stock market witnessed a notable boost yesterday, with the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) gaining N221 billion, driven largely by heightened investor interest in Nestle Nigeria Plc and 32 other stocks. Nestle Nigeria led the rally, climbing N150 per share, equivalent to a 4.84% gain, closing at N3,250 per share.
This surge raised the overall market capitalization of listed companies on the NGX to N126.32 trillion, up from N126.1 trillion at the opening of trading—a 0.18% increase. The NGX All-Share Index (ASI) reflected the positive sentiment, closing at 196,807.15 points, a 0.17% rise from the previous day’s 196,463.22 points.
Month-to-date and year-to-date returns also improved, with the NGX ASI posting gains of 2.1% and 26.5%, respectively. Despite the overall growth, sectoral performance showed mixed results. The banking sector led with a 0.5% increase, consumer goods grew by 0.1%, while insurance and oil & gas sectors slipped by 1.6% and 0.2%, respectively. Industrial goods remained largely flat.
Trading activity, however, slowed, with the total volume of shares traded declining by 21.3% to 634.01 million units, valued at N29.11 billion across 66,286 deals. Jaiz Bank topped the most-traded-by-volume list with 137.30 million units, while GTCO dominated by value at N5.41 billion.
Market sentiment leaned slightly negative, as measured by market breadth at 0.8x, with 37 stocks declining against 31 gainers. Tripple G Plc and Multiverse led the laggards, each falling 9.9%, while NPF Microfinance Bank Plc and Eterna Plc posted the day’s most impressive gains, rising 10% each.
source: This day