The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) All-Share Index (ASI) ended the trading session on an upbeat tone, thanks to ongoing investor enthusiasm, climbing by 0.59% to settle at 153,354.13 points.
Key metrics for the stock exchange hit fresh highs, with the overall market value nearing its record level of N98 trillion. This surge was fueled by the introduction of new listings and the seasonal year-end rally often referred to as the Santa Claus effect.
The positive market performance was supported by gains in several consumer products stocks, including BUAFOODS which rose by 1.88% and INTBREW which advanced by 5.60%, as well as strong interest in FIRSTHOLDCO up 9.35% and WAPCO gaining 1.50%.
Investor confidence in equities remained optimistic, with the market’s advance-decline ratio standing at 1.12x, where 29 advancing stocks, topped by ALEX with a 9.96% increase, outpaced 26 declining ones, headed by ROYALEX which dropped 7.22%.
Boosted by heightened buying activity, trading volumes and values saw notable improvements, with the total number of shares exchanged rising by 50.0% to 677.4 million units, and the aggregate transaction value growing by 59.5% to N20.8 billion.
VFDGROUP dominated the volume leaderboard with 192.0 million units traded, representing 28.3% of the day’s total, whereas GTCO topped the value rankings with deals amounting to N5.6 billion, or 26.9% of the overall value.
The domestic exchange’s capitalization expanded by ₦578.9 billion, reaching ₦97.77 trillion, as market participants adjusted their holdings in preparation for the upcoming year.
As per the latest exchange update, an additional 7.62 million units of CHAMS stock were added to the NGX listings today, leading to a slight 0.01% variance between the percentage gains in the index and the market capitalization.
In terms of sectoral gains, the Consumer Goods sector led with a 1.30% rise, trailed by Banking at 1.23% and Industrial Goods at 0.21%, driven by performances in BUAFOODS (1.88%), FIRSTHOLDCO (9.35%), and WAPCO (1.50%), while the Commodity sector remained unchanged.
Conversely, the Insurance sector dipped by 0.13% and Oil & Gas by 0.02%, weighed down by losses in SOVRENINS (down 5.28%) and OANDO (down 0.26%), respectively.
 All-Share Index (ASI) ended the trading session on an upbeat tone, thanks to ongoing investor enthusiasm, climbing by 0.59% to settle at 153,354.13 points.){kind=link}