Nigerian Exchange Market Gains N284bn Amid NIDF Listing

The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) kicked off the new trading week on a positive note, with a wave of bargain hunting pushing key market indicators upward after a bearish performance last week.

On Monday, investors’ wealth expanded by ₦284.44 billion, buoyed by the listing of additional shares from Chapel Hill Denham’s Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund (NIDF). The All-Share Index (ASI) advanced by 0.30 percent to close at 141,433.41 points, pushing the year-to-date gain to 37.41 percent.

Market capitalization and the index saw a slight divergence, mainly due to the listing of 270,382 fresh units of NIDF shares on the Exchange’s official daily list.

Investor sentiment remained upbeat, with market breadth reflecting stronger demand in undervalued medium- and large-cap stocks across critical sectors.

However, total trading activity slowed, as both volume and value dipped by -54.63% and -75.63%, respectively. According to Atlass Portfolio Limited, about 591.25 million units valued at ₦11.66 billion were exchanged in 33,342 deals.

In terms of volume, FCMB led the activity chart with 17.92 percent, followed by VERITASKAP (10.15%), UNIVINSURE (5.86%), AIICO (4.47%), and GTCO (4.26%). On the value front, GTCO dominated with 21.43 percent of total trades.

Julius Berger (JBERGER) topped the gainers’ list with a 9.93 percent surge, trailed by CUTIX (+9.86%), REGALINS (+9.70%), VERITASKAP (+9.60%), MCNICHOLS (+9.38%), NEM (+8.83%), and 34 others.

Seventeen equities ended in the red, with UPL recording the steepest loss at -9.92 percent, followed by CADBURY (-9.61%), AUSTINLAZ (-6.55%), TANTALIZER (-5.66%), ARADEL (-1.73%), and FIDELITYBK (-0.24%).

Overall, the market breadth closed positive with 40 gainers versus 17 losers.

Across sectors, the banking (+1.12%), insurance (+3.81%), consumer goods (+0.29%), and industrial (+0.02%) indexes all posted gains, while the oil & gas (-0.31%) and commodities (-0.30%) segments ended lower.