The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) reached a major milestone on Friday, as its overall market capitalisation exceeded ₦89 trillion, boosted by a surge of over ₦948 billion in total equity value. This remarkable increase was fuelled by continued market momentum and fresh share listings, including the recent employee stock issuance by Seplat Energy Plc.
The domestic equities market capped off yet another winning week with a strong bullish close, maintaining its consistent upward trend. According to trading records, the All-Share Index gained 1.00%, rising by 1,399.53 basis points to close at an unprecedented peak of 141,263.05 points.
The total market capitalisation leapt by ₦948.11 billion or 1.07% to close at ₦89.37 trillion. Analysts attribute the slight divergence between the index growth and market cap expansion to the issuance of 11.5 million ordinary shares by Seplat Energy as part of its employee share-based compensation scheme.
Equity dealers attributed the positive performance to selective buying of strong-performing blue-chip stocks. Notable contributors to the rally included UAC of Nigeria, BUACEMENT, BETAGLAS, BUAFOODS, among others, which helped elevate the key market indicators.
Despite the bullish finish, trading volume and value experienced a modest dip. Atlass Portfolio Limited noted that trading activities dropped, with total volume and value falling by 1.51% and 18.22%, respectively. On the day, about 1.08 billion units of shares worth ₦26.85 billion exchanged hands across 34,488 deals.
Among the most active stocks by volume, FCMB Holdings dominated trading, representing 25.70% of the total market volume. It was followed by Fidelity Bank (7.93%), Sterling Financial (5.41%), Universal Insurance (4.15%), and Veritas Kapital (3.85%).
On the value side, Aradel Holdings emerged as the most heavily traded equity, accounting for 12.18% of the total monetary value exchanged on the NGX.
UAC of Nigeria led the gainers with a 9.96% rise in share price, followed closely by BUACEMENT (+9.63%), Veritas Kapital (+9.45%), BETAGLAS (+9.22%), Legend Int’l (+8.84%), Wema Bank (+8.64%), along with 28 other advancing equities.
However, the market also recorded 35 decliners. CHAMPION, Dangote Sugar, and OANDO recorded sharp losses of 10.00% each, while Sovereign Trust Insurance fell by 9.52%, Sterling Financial by 7.14%, and Transcorp by 5.66%. Japaul Gold and Aradel also declined by 4.41% and 1.89%, respectively.
By the end of the session, the market breadth was slightly negative, closing with 34 gainers and 35 losers. Nevertheless, sectoral indices largely posted positive returns.
The industrial sector led the way, climbing 3.49%, trailed by the consumer goods index (+1.61%) and the banking sector (+0.52%). In contrast, the Oil & Gas sector shed 1.73%, and the Insurance sector dipped by 0.29%.
