The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) kicked off post-independence trading on a bullish note, with investors recording a combined portfolio gain of over ₦170 billion. The upward momentum reflects growing market optimism as the fourth quarter of the year begins.
The rally was largely fueled by strong buying sentiment in select medium- and large-cap stocks with solid fundamentals. Key gainers included PZ Cussons, Eterna, GTCO, and Cadbury, which helped drive overall market performance across several sectors.
The All-Share Index (ASI) advanced by 270.74 basis points, representing a 0.19% uptick to close at 142,979.45 index points. Market capitalization followed suit, climbing by ₦170.72 billion, or 0.19%, to settle at ₦90.75 trillion.
Investor appetite has been strong in recent days, with the last five trading sessions alone adding ₦1.69 trillion to market capitalization. Thursday’s trading session saw an impressive rise in activity, as total volume and value of transactions soared by 402.49% and 82.57% respectively.
Brokers reported that 6.23 billion shares worth ₦54.45 billion exchanged hands across 32,682 deals. UBA dominated activity by volume, accounting for 19.44% of total trades, followed closely by Wema Bank (19.42%), FirstHoldCo (14.28%), Zenith Bank (6.02%), and Stanbic IBTC (3.96%).
By value, UBA also topped the chart, capturing 22.28% of total market turnover.
On the gainers’ side, PZ Cussons led with a maximum 10% price increase, followed by Eterna (+9.94%), Champion Breweries (+9.82%), Tantalizers (+5.96%), AIICO (+5.43%), and Neimeth (+5.13%).
Meanwhile, 25 stocks closed in the red, with RT Briscoe leading the laggards after shedding -9.89%. Other key losers included Thomas Wyatt (-9.82%), Berger Paints (-7.18%), Livestock Feeds (-3.95%), May & Baker (-2.76%), and FirstHoldCo (-1.59%).
Market breadth closed positive with 34 gainers against 25 losers. Sectoral indices also showed broad strength: Insurance gained 0.42%, Consumer Goods rose 0.35%, Banking advanced 0.17%, and Oil & Gas added 0.12%. Only the Industrial sector posted a minor decline of -0.02%.
Analysts believe the bullish opening sets a positive tone for Q4, with expectations of sustained inflows into fundamentally strong stocks.
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