The Nigerian equity market made a strong recovery on Thursday, reversing the losses of the previous session with a gain of N53 billion. Investor interest in major stocks like Dangote Cement, FBN Holdings, Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO), and Fidelity Bank, along with other advancing equities, contributed to the positive performance.
Market capitalisation rose by N53 billion, or 0.09%, climbing from N62.257 trillion at the start to N62.310 trillion at the close of trading. Similarly, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 0.09%, up by 87.11 points, to finish at 102,183.06, compared to the previous day’s close of 102,095.95.
This performance pushed the Year-to-Date (YTD) return to 0.72%.
Market Overview
Despite the gains, the market breadth ended in the negative, with 35 stocks advancing and 26 declining.
On the losers’ side, Livestock Feeds saw a drop of 60 kobo, closing at N5.40, while Eunisell lost N1.73, ending at N15.63 per share. Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals and Regal Insurance both lost 7 kobo, closing at N3.12 and N0.68, respectively. Honeywell Flour also shed 94 kobo, closing at N9.21 per share.
On the flip side, Northern Nigeria Flour Mills topped the gainers’ chart, rising by N4.95 to close at N54.45. Dangote Sugar followed closely with a N3.65 increase, ending at N40.50 per share. John Holt gained 83 kobo to close at N9.30, while The Initiate Plc and Omatek added 25 kobo and 8 kobo, respectively.
Trading Activity
Trade turnover showed an uptick in comparison to the previous session, with transaction values increasing by 76.82%. A total of 472.16 million shares worth N16.70 billion were exchanged in 12,336 deals, compared to the 435.54 million shares valued at N9.44 billion that were traded in 12,098 deals on Wednesday.
Leading the activity chart in both volume and value was GTCO, with 65.05 million shares worth N3.77 billion changing hands.
