Nigerian Equities Continue to Rise with N76 Billion Increase in Capitalization – Investors continued their search for bargains ahead of dividend qualifying dates for various companies, leading to sustained bullishness in Nigerian equities yesterday. The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) benchmark indices showed an average gain of 0.27%, corresponding to a net capital gain of N76 billion. This marks the third consecutive day of gains, pushing the average year-to-date gain to 1.9%.
The All Share Index (ASI), which tracks all share prices at the NGX, rose from its opening index of 52,097.62 points to close at 52,235.88 points. Furthermore, the aggregate market value of all quoted equities increased from its opening value of N28.367 trillion to N28.443 trillion at close of trading.
Positive sentiments were seen across most sectors, with 26 gainers to eight losers. The NGX Consumer Goods Index increased by 2.0%, the NGX Insurance Index rose by 0.4%, and the NGX Oil & Gas Index rose by 0.2%. However, the NGX Banking Index declined by 0.5%, while the NGX Industrial Goods Index decreased by 0.1%.
Honeywell Flour Mills recorded the highest gain, rising by 10%, followed by Cadbury Nigeria with a gain of 9.8%. Nigerian Breweries suffered the biggest loss, declining by 10%, followed by International Energy Insurance, which lost 9.5%.
The total turnover dropped by 64% to 2.33 billion shares valued at N17.62 billion in 6,958 deals. Access Holdings was the most traded stock, with a turnover of 1.23 billion shares worth N12.51 billion.