Investors in the Nigerian equities market recorded over N100 billion in gains on Tuesday as renewed buying interest in banking stocks lifted the market into positive territory, defying broader global market weakness.
According to data from the Nigerian Exchange (NGX), the market closed on an upbeat note, with the All-Share Index climbing by 159.87 points to settle at 104,376.74. This represented a 0.15% increase, boosting the year-to-date return further.
The bullish performance was driven by increased demand for undervalued mid-to-large-cap stocks, particularly in the banking sector, which led the rally.
Prominent gainers for the session included FIRSTHOLDCO and ZENITHBANK, alongside several other banking stocks. Their performance collectively added more than N100 billion to investors’ portfolios.
Trading activity on the local exchange was mixed. While the total volume of shares traded rose by 3.71%, the total value of trades dropped by 9.35%. A total of 460.57 million shares valued at ₦10.11 billion exchanged hands in 14,528 transactions, as reported by Atlass Portfolios Limited.
ACCESSCORP led the volume chart, accounting for 12.30% of the day’s total transactions, followed by GTCO (11.23%), FIDELITYBK (5.24%), FCMB (5.08%), and UCAP (5.07%). In value terms, GTCO emerged as the most traded equity, representing 34.03% of the total turnover for the day.
Among the top gainers, NSLTECH led the advancers’ list with an 8.89% appreciation in share price, trailed by ABBEYBDS (+8.35%), STERLINGNG (+6.85%), VFDGROUP (+5.26%), MBENEFIT (+4.55%), FIRSTHOLDCO (+3.70%), and several others.
Conversely, forty equities declined in value during the session. NAHCO led the laggards with a 9.94% drop in share price, followed closely by ROYALEX (-9.78%), JAPAULGOLD (-9.55%), NEIMETH (-7.98%), AFRIPRUD (-7.69%), and FTNCOCOA (-6.47%). Despite the overall market gain, market breadth remained negative with 16 stocks advancing against 40 decliners.
Sectoral performance was also broadly negative, with three of the five major indices closing in the red. The insurance sector fell by 4.07%, consumer goods dropped by 0.16%, and the industrial goods sector shed 0.11%.
However, the banking and oil & gas sectors posted modest gains of 1.89% and 0.04%, respectively. The market capitalization of the Nigerian Exchange ended the session higher, gaining N100.45 billion to close at N65.59 trillion.
