N405bn gain as Equities Market extends winning run

By Taiye Olayemi

The Nigerian equities market sustained its bullish run on Friday, ending the week with a N405 billion increase in market capitalisation on renewed buying interest.

The market capitalisation rose by 0.25 per cent to N159.558 trillion from N159.153 trillion recorded in the previous session.

Similarly, the All-Share Index (ASI) advanced by 604.22 points, representing a 0.25 per cent increase, to close at 246,992.44, compared with 246,388.22 on Thursday.

The gain lifted the market’s year-to-date return to 58.72 per cent, underscoring the strong performance of Nigerian equities so far this year.

The positive close was supported by price appreciation in Abbey Mortgage Bank, Royal Exchange, Nigerian Breweries, John Holt, Daar Communications and 24 other stocks.

Despite the overall gain, market breadth remained negative, with 31 stocks recording losses against 26 gainers.

On the gainers’ chart, Industrial and Medical Gases led with a 9.97 per cent increase to close at N30.70 per share.

Juli followed with a 9.66 per cent gain to N6.55, while University Press appreciated by 9.09 per cent to N5 per share.

On the losers’ chart, Red Star Express and Haldane McCall led with declines of 10 per cent each, closing at N13.95 and N3.60 per share respectively.

Nigerian Breweries fell by 9.93 per cent to N82.45, while John Holt declined by 9.89 per cent to N10 per share.

Daar Communications also shed 9.68 per cent to close at N1.70 per share.

Trading activity strengthened significantly during the session, with total volume rising by 416.66 per cent to 2.24 billion shares.

The shares were traded in 42,709 deals with a total value of N73.41 billion.

Fortis Global Insurance dominated trading volume with 1.45 billion shares, accounting for 64.85 per cent of the total volume traded.

Seplat Energy recorded the highest transaction value at N32.24 billion, representing 43.91 per cent of the day’s total value.

The strong weekly close indicates continued investor interest in equities, despite the mixed performance across individual stocks.