The Nigerian equities market closed on a strong note, extending it’s bullish run as gains in key stocks including heavyweight companies lifted trading at the of the week.
The benchmark NGX All Share Index (ASI) advanced by 6.57 per cent week on week to settle at 217167.57 points from 203770.43 points reported the previous week.
Market capitalisation of listed equities also increased by
6.60 per cent to N139.83 trillion, buoyed by the supplementary listing of 3.62 billion shares, translating to a gain of approximately N8.66 trillion, a notable improvement from the N1.36 trillion recorded in the prior week.
As a result, the year-to-date return strengthened to 39.53 per cent, reflecting sustained positive market momentum.
Market breadth also closed positive with 61 gainers compared to 36 decliners, indicating broad-based buying interest across the market.
Trading activity for the week was robust with the number of deals, volume traded, and total value traded rising by 10.94 per cent, 6.75 per cent , and 28.53 per cent week-on-week, respectively.
In total, investors exchanged 3.588 billion shares valued at N195.313 billion across 254553 deals, highlighting
increased market participation against 3.361 billion shares worth N151.948 billion exchanged hands the previous week in 229442 deals.
An analysis of the transactions during the week showed that the financial services Industry led the activity chart in volume terms with 2.498 billion shares valued at N94.005 billion traded in 111,052 deals: thus contributing 69.62 per cent and 48.13 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively. The Services Industry followed with 329.034 million shares worth N3.452 billion in 14,050 deals. Third place was the Oil and Gas Industry, with a turnover of 152.472million shares worth N42.511 billion in 19,022 deals.
Trading in the top three equities, namely Sterling Financial Holdings Company Plc, Access Holdings Plc and Zenith Bank Plc, accounted for 1.038 billion shares worth N46.081 billion in 33,067 deals, contributing 28.92 per cent and 23.59 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
On sectoral performance, the Insurance sector took negative performance, slipping by 0.04 per cent week-on-week, largely due to sell-offs in Wapic and International General Insurance, which offset gains seen in counters like Royal Express.
Conversely, the Oil & Gas sector led the market with an.increase of 17.59 per cent week-on-week, driven by strong buying interest in Aradel , JapaulGold and Seplat Energy. The Banking sector followed with an 11.85 per cent gain, supported by renewed investor demand for ETI, Stanbic IBTC, and Firstholco. Consumer Goods also recorded a solid increase of 7.76 per cent, underpinned by sustained participation in Union Dicon and Guinness Nigeria.